30 MAY 1970, Page 17

A horrible reli pi:ions error

When the serpent emerged, earth-bowel brown, From the hatched atom With its alibi self twisted around it Lifting a long neck And balancing that deaf and mineral stare The sphynx of the final fact And flexing on that double flameflicker tongue A syllable like the rustling of the spheres God's grimace writhed, a leaf in the furnace And man's and woman's knees melted, they collapsed Their neck-muscles melted, their brows bumped the ground Their tears evacuated visibly They whispered 'Your will is our peace' But Crow only peered. Then took a step or two forward, Grabbed this creature by the slackskin nape, Beat the hell out of it, and ate it.