Riddles in the Dark
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees
Up, up it goes
And yet never grows?
Thirty white horses on a red hill
First they champ,
They then stamp,
Then they stand still.
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.
An eye in a blue face
Saw and eye in a green face.
"That eye is like to this eye"
Said the first eye,
"But in a low place,
Not in a high place."
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.
A box without hinges, key or lid,
Yet golden treasures inside is hid.
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.
No-legs lay on one-leg,
Two-legs sat near on three-legs,
Four-legs got some.
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays kings, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
