It seems someone stole Shakespeare’s skull
despite the warning on his tomb
that ‘cursed be he who move my bones.’
It seems somebody stole his skull.
G.P.R. shows that it is gone.
They had to break through brick and stone
inside the church to steal his skull
and yet this sacrilege was done.

It seems someone stole Shakespeare’s skull
end of the nineteenth century
and later boasted openly
that they had taken Shakespeare’s skull.
The science of phrenology
paid for such items handsomely.
Someone bought it. Alas poor skull!
Now you are lost to history.

Oonah V Joslin is currently poetry editor at The Linnet’s Wings. She lives in Northumberland and a constant state of panic.