diff --git a/src/main/php/lang/ast/nodes/Start.class.php b/src/main/php/lang/ast/nodes/Start.class.php
deleted file mode 100755
index a2b9a12..0000000
--- a/src/main/php/lang/ast/nodes/Start.class.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-<?php namespace lang\ast\nodes;
-
-use lang\ast\Node;
-
-class Start extends Node {
-  public $kind= 'start';
-  public $syntax;
-
-  public function __construct($syntax, $line= -1) {
-    $this->syntax= $syntax;
-    $this->line= $line;
-  }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/php/lang/ast/syntax/PHP.class.php b/src/main/php/lang/ast/syntax/PHP.class.php
index fd02b16..6f1c2f8 100755
--- a/src/main/php/lang/ast/syntax/PHP.class.php
+++ b/src/main/php/lang/ast/syntax/PHP.class.php
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
   ReturnStatement,
   ScopeExpression,
   Signature,
-  Start,
   StaticLocals,
   SwitchStatement,
   TernaryExpression,
@@ -520,8 +519,12 @@ public function __construct() {
 
     $this->stmt('<?', function($parse, $token) {
       $syntax= $parse->token->value;
+      if ('php' !== $syntax) {
+        $parse->raise('Unexpected syntax '.$syntax.', expecting php', $token->value);
+      }
+
       $parse->forward();
-      return new Start($syntax, $token->line);
+      return $this->statement($parse);
     });
 
     $this->stmt('{', function($parse, $token) {
diff --git a/src/test/php/lang/ast/unittest/parse/StartTokensTest.class.php b/src/test/php/lang/ast/unittest/parse/StartTokensTest.class.php
index 82fa071..1db55e7 100755
--- a/src/test/php/lang/ast/unittest/parse/StartTokensTest.class.php
+++ b/src/test/php/lang/ast/unittest/parse/StartTokensTest.class.php
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <?php namespace lang\ast\unittest\parse;
 
-use lang\ast\nodes\{NamespaceDeclaration, Start};
+use lang\ast\Errors;
+use lang\ast\nodes\NamespaceDeclaration;
 use unittest\{Assert, Test};
 
 class StartTokensTest extends ParseTest {
@@ -8,16 +9,13 @@ class StartTokensTest extends ParseTest {
   #[Test]
   public function php() {
     $this->assertParsed(
-      [new Start('php', self::LINE), new NamespaceDeclaration('test', self::LINE)],
+      [new NamespaceDeclaration('test', self::LINE)],
       '<?php namespace test;'
     );
   }
 
-  #[Test]
+  #[Test, Expect(class: Errors::class, withMessage: 'Unexpected syntax hh, expecting php in <?')]
   public function hack() {
-    $this->assertParsed(
-      [new Start('hh', self::LINE), new NamespaceDeclaration('test', self::LINE)],
-      '<?hh namespace test;'
-    );
+    $this->parse('<?hh namespace test;')->tree();
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file