[next page] such. Both are relics of pagan ritual con- cerned with fertility and the continuity of the seasons. Information on all this is readily acces- sible. The poem which follows, with its setting, is an attempt to recapture imagin- atively something of the subjective exper- ience of an original ""serious Fool"", or pag- an officiant, as he passed through the var- ious stages of the rite which involved his ""death"" and ""resurrection"". [6]