Start not—nor deem my spirit fled:
In me behold the only skull
From which, unlike a living head,
Whatever flows is never dull.

I lived, I loved, I quaffed like thee;
I died: let earth my bones resign:
Fill up—thou canst not injure me;
The worm hath fouler lips than thine.

Better to hold the sparkling grape
Than nurse the earthworm’s slimy brood,
And circle in the goblet’s shape
The drink of gods than reptile’s food.

Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,
In aid of others’ let me shine;
And when, alas! our brains are gone,
What nobler substitute than wine?

Quaff while thou canst; another race,
When thou and thine like me are sped,
May rescue thee from earth’s embrace,
And rhyme and revel with the dead.

Why not—since through life’s little day
Our heads such sad effects produce?
Redeemed from worms and wasting clay,
This chance is theirs to be of use.

Real human skeletons cost serious money now, compared to the old days.

“Krum of Bulgaria was said by Theophanes the Confessor, Joannes Zonaras, Mannases Chronicle, and others, to have made a jeweled cup from the skull of the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I (811 AD) after killing him in the Battle of Pliska.”

From:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_cup

One of the more interesting Wikipedia entries, IMHO.

http://www.oglaf.com/skulls/
(most strips there are NSFW, so click wisely if that’s a concern)

And yeah, the wikipedia page from which the image was taken specifically says it’s Tibetan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapala

You know. Once I’m done using it.

Hope it doesn’t leak.

We’ll make flutes from your leg bones
We’ll make drums from your skin
We’ll drink chicha from your skulls
And then we’ll dance.

Yeah. Badass, that. But anyway, the Inca did that too.