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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 18, No. 5. April 30, 1954

The Ballad of a Rationalist

The Ballad of a Rationalist

Editor, "Salient". Dear Sir,

There is no God the young man said,
There is no God said he.
I had it from the piltdown man,
An old authority.

He had it from the great Baboon.
While ho in turn you see,
Had beard it from primeval things
From the primeval sea.

But do not think, the young man said,
Make no mistake, said be.
There was an older voice than this
Back in antiquity.

He fixed me with his rational eye.
With ringing [unclear: tancs] spake [unclear: he]
They had it from the amoeba old
Alone and solitary.

Nor is this yet the final stuck
Whence things began to be,
There was a rich and palatine mud
Of great fertility.

Now mark me well the young man said,
And listen clone to me,
Thin in the almost god-like ooze
That furthered you and me.

Heed not the myths of Matthew, Mark,
Nor yet of Luke and John.
Freud han put out the Aren of Paul
And Africa' a dark non.

The weak of mind might heed their word,
The blind who cannot see,
Like Dante. Shakespeare and Pasteur,
Not Darwin. Freud and me.

Aquinas wan an obtuse ox,
And Milton wan a bore,
And Einstein is an unkempt chap,
I will not mention more—

Because I'm sure, the young man said,
You cannot fall to nee.
How rational la my point of view,
Yon do—I hope—agree?

Yours, etc.,

—Ego

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