White marble windowless womb

Seals inspiration inward, like a skull

Fenced by a colonnade and oaken doors,

A maze of steps and echoes.

 

White marble magic walls keep back the night,

Exclude the loud cheap town - its angry sirens,

Stumbling traffic, its cut-price ugly crowds

With inbred voices raised - our culture cuts away

These vicious tumours.

 

This purer place enshrining higher thoughts

This hall of crafted dreams and chosen things

This honoured space that holds us safe

And gives our words

A home.