| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
| |
| 152. The Skull |
| | | By Mary E. Fullerton |
| |
| |
| O BOWL that held the hot imprisoned fire, | |
| Cup where the sacred essence used to burn— | |
| That fluent essence that shall ne’er return— | |
| Old home of Aspiration and Desire: | |
| What art thou now to honour and admire? | 5 |
| A thing inconsequential one might spurn, | |
| Thou art not e’en the scattered ashes’ urn;— | |
| Husk of the spirit that shall not expire. | |
| |
| Thou cage and shell of ancient busy Thought, | |
| Nurse-house of Soul, the domicile of him | 10 |
| Long fled thy osseous walls that Nature wrought | |
| To please proud Time’s caprice and passing whim; | |
| ’Twixt two eternities a moment caught, | |
| He rose from thee to join the seraphim. | |
| |
|
|
|
