A Skull

Reason and rage, hope, bonhomie,
Madness and mind all lived inside
This vaulted space. Here, came to be
The gods invented, glorified.
Is this Lascaux, or Les Eyzies?
This den, this cave unoccupied
Where vice once bred its beasts? This lair
Where hate held savage feasts, and where
Love's flames flared high, impassionedly?
Where echoes of eternity
Pulsed long? Where language grew in fuss
And ant-hill frenzy? Tenebrous
Horrors swirling: troglodyte dwelling
Voices in song and prayer swelling,
Familiar and mysterious...