"HE broad-backed hippopotamus
Rests on his belly in the mud;
Although he seems so firm to us
He is merely flesh and blood."

The concept of Christianity is represented as a stupid but dangerous beast, which although seemingly invincible, is capable of being killed.

Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,
Susceptible to nervous shock;
While the True Church can never fail
For it is based upon a rock.

My feelings from this are that the modern Christianity and actual fundamentalist Christianity are contrasted. Modern Christianity is just a shell people wear. They still drink and cheat on their wives and look at girls asses and curse and have pre-marital sex, but they think they're a part of something powerful. They attempt to consolidate Christianity with reason and the rights on man, but those things are inevitably contradict, and Christianity will never win.

Fundamentalists Christians don't need any of that; they only believe in the Bible, and unapologetically. Therefore, they cannot be shaken. The 'rock' is a reference to a hymn that is sung in church, if I could remember the specific one at 3:49AM, I'd quote it. I can't.

The hippo's feeble steps may err
In compassing material ends,
While the True Church need never stir
To gather in its dividends.

Christians are willing to betray their religion and their morality in pursuit of wealth. The church doesn't even need to do that, since it exists almost purely to make profit.

The 'potamus can never reach
The mango on the mango-tree;
But fruits of pomegranate and peach
Refresh the Church from over sea.

Not sure how I interpret this one. Perhaps it means that the average Christian will never find the satisfaction that they are looking for in Christianity itself. The church however is always looking for new converts in new and exotic places, because new converts mean new sources of income.

At mating time the hippo's voice
Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,
But every week we hear rejoice
The Church, at being one with God.

Just another verse about Christians being able to disregard rules in the Bible (In this case of a sexual nature) while still feeling like they are entitled to its assumed benefits.

The hippopotamus's day
Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;
God works in a mysterious way--
The Church can sleep and feed at once.

I'm pretty sure the hippo bit is just to set up the clever shot at the Church in the latter verse. This is the punchline of the poem, since it basically paints a picture of the Church as a sort of predatory creature that keeps the minds of its followers 'asleep', while feeding off of them in a way that is very easy to understand if you've ever seen an evening of Sunday Church programs.

I saw the 'potamus take wing
Ascending from the damp savannas,
And quiring angels round him sing
The praise of God, in loud hosannas.

Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean
And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold.

Both of those lines just seem to be what the average Christian expects to get out of Christianity. They expect to be part of some kind of lame, homecoming parade one day, as all the non-Christians watch them sadly like kids who didn't make the cut. Sounds ridiculous, except Christians really do fantasize like this to one another.

He shall be washed as white as snow,
By all the martyr'd virgins kist,
While the True Church remains below
Wrapt in the old miasmal mist."


This line seems to either continue the fantasy, or imply that the fantasizing Christian is just dead. The line about the True Church in the miasma is interesting enough with the simple definition of a miasma, which is basically a foul air that medieval thinkers theorized caused all disease.

Another deeper and (To me) more interesting interpretation is taking the word miasma in the ancient sense. To the Greeks a miasma was something sort of like a spell, except a spell is a rule enforced by some powerful entity. A miasma is like a wicked entity that enforces its own will until it is done away with, usually by blood sacrifice. In a way that implies that Christianity is a sort of supernatural force in itself, but one that took on a mythology to hide its true intentions.

I remember reading in National Geographic about all these little miasmal writings that ancient Athenians put on items. Like if you were a blacksmith and you had to make a shield for somebody you didn't like, you might carve a little hidden curse on it, hoping to create a negative entity that would lead the shieldbearer to downfall.