Song of a Gnostic Epikoros

By Shane Devine

“The Flammarion engraving,” unknown artist

The devil wrote the Bible
To lead mankind astray;
Meant to worship nature,
He now adores decay.

Praise the cosmos as it is,
And you shall be set free –
Wish it were some other way
And you’ll desire of that tree

That shatters blissful gardens green
And opes the earth, tears at the seams
To finally, with sick delight,
Extinguish all in fiery smite.

Be wary, pious one, who you choose as seer:
He who says “the world is God, go shed your fears,”
Or they who say it’s nothing but a vale of tears.