30 MARCH 1991, Page 32

Signs of the Times

Three years he did the tour. A coterie Of hopefuls, fans and groupies went along Down dusty paths, beside a tideless sea, And just before the last, still going strong, Crowds chanted for him, adulators waved Palm fronds as banners. Popularity Is always fickle. No one came and saved Him from the cross. As soon as he, Found wanting of the normal sin of greed, Was tried, no one was found to speak for him. Though afterwards the subject of a creed His following seems subject to the whim Of fashion. Now cross earrings hang in lines In jewellery stores, by silver dollar signs.

Katie Mallett