Hamadryas baboons
sleeping in their residential cliff
rouse each other in the dark to
creep out from their overhangs

and stand shoulder-to-shoulder
gazing out towards the east
dewy feet shuffling in the
clammy wet grass

As the sun gleams out among
faraway mountain peaks
they begin to jump up and down
screaming with joy

Then they commence their day
which mostly consists of
nibbling the tastier shoots of grass
plus the occasional lizard

These are wild animals
not failed human beings
to say it is an act of worship
is anthropomorphism

Yet the ancient Egyptians
remarking their behaviour
saw baboons as reifying wisdom
and copied them