Cave by Selina Powell is a quiet, atmospheric poem that draws readers into the stillness and mystery of an underground cave. Focusing on a single suspended moment, it describes a caver hanging in a narrow shaft of light, surrounded by darkness, silence, and the slow presence of nature. Through precise, evocative imagery, Powell contrasts light and shadow, movement and stillness. The cave feels ancient and alive—boulders are soft enough to “soothe a giant’s sleep,” glow-worms carry “swaying lamps,” and bats’ wings are compared to “tiny umbrellas,” all reinforcing a mood of calm, patience, and deep time.

The accompanying photograph strengthens this atmosphere, showing the caver silhouetted against the cave opening and highlighting both human vulnerability and the vastness of the natural world. Together, image and text demonstrate how poetry and photography can work in partnership to convey mood, perspective, and place. The poem supports students to explore imagery, metaphor, and simile, and is well suited to integrated learning across literacy and science or environmental studies, particularly inquiry into caves, exploration, and careful observation.

Curriculum Phase: Phase 2
Year Level: Year 4

English: reading for meaning and inference, analysing imagery and figurative language, exploring how poetry creates mood and atmosphere, integrating visual and written texts

Science / Environmental Education: caves and underground environments, habitats, exploration, respect for nature

Text type: Poetry, free verse, descriptive and reflective verse

Key words include: abseiling, caves, caving, environment, exploration, glow-worms, imagery, metaphor, poetry, simile, speleology, underground