Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MEDITATION OVER A SKULL, by CHARLES HENRY MACKINTOSH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MEDITATION OVER A SKULL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In this strange cup of ivory, love-wrought
Last Line: For I shall live in them that drink my wine!
Subject(s): Skulls; Vines And Vineyards


In this strange cup of ivory, love-wrought,
Once brimmed the gray and golden wine of thought:
Cast it aside! - The world has drained its wine,
And now new grapes are ripening on the vine.

Press me new grapes, and twine about my brow
The leaves of all the pasts that make the Now.
This very vine that yields itself today
Roots in the myriad mould of such as they!

When the last drop drips from my empty cup,
And when the thirsty vine has drawn it up,
Shall I defy the common fate of men
And bid new grapes brim my old cup again?

Or shall I hope that some discerning guest
Will think my cup more precious that the rest,
Bear it away, and set it on some shelf
Because it held the wine that was myself?

-- Press me new grapes: sufficient to my task
That I may offer drink to all who ask.
I shall not need new filling, nor a shrine,
For I shall live in them that drink my wine!





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