COMP. RELIGION

It all begins with fear of mana
Next there comes the love of tribe.
Native dances, totems, ani-
Mism and magicians thrive.

Culture grows more complicated
Spirits, chiefs in funny hats,
And suchlike spooks are sublimated
Into gods and Ziggurats

Polyarmed and polyheaded
Gods proliferate until
Puristic-minded sages edit
Their welter into one sweet Will.

This worshipped One grows so enlightened
Vast and high He, in a blur,
Explodes, and men are left as frightened
Of mana as they ever were.

--John Updike


cordially,