When ever I think of caverns or underground access that go to who really knows it reminds me of a poem that I read years ago. I have looked for this poem since this time which was around 1979 or 1980 but have never found it thus far. It was titled "He the Gnome Gilgetti". I'm not sure of the Gilgetti spelling but it went like this:
He the Gnome Gilgetti lived under ground in the dark earths surface deep within the ground....
It was a very dark poem but that was the appearance as the underlying theme, to me was that while the gnome lived underground, describing all the bugs and creatures that crawled all over him, seemingly hiding from the life above, he was longing to come out of this self-imposed grave. The life above intrigued him but the isolation he had accustomed himself too was for him, security. He was afraid of leaving this hole he lived in. He was afraid that the life above would consume him in a sense. That perhaps he wouldn't fit in and be rejected. While he appeared creepy and scary this was because of the isolation he had placed himself. There were bugs and earth dwellers crawling on him and other objects that most would be apprehensive of touching let alone having them live on themselves but this brought him security. Instead his fear of the unknown life above kept him a earth-dweller. It kept him secure in the knowledge that if he never left his grave so to speak he would never be harmed and the fear that the life above held for him, protected him from life. The light of day and the darkness of night were not part of his existence as all time was the same, without change and this gave him security. If he never moved he would never change.
