10 DECEMBER 1994, Page 46

Cranach's Eve

The last of innocence, you'd say Perhaps, until you see the way That little finger nicely stretches Out, and that sparse foliage fetches Up across the groin. And whose Teethmarks have made the apple lose Its foundness? Even without the snake Coiling its fishy lobes, you'd make The right deduction: innocence already Gone. The challenging look is steady As knowledge and as incomplete — The globe trembles under her feet.

Lawrence Sail