The Anathemata
Rite and Fore-time (continued)
At this unabiding Omphalosa
this other laughless rock
at the stone of division
above the middle water-deeps2
at the turn of time
not at any time, but at this acceptable time.
From the year of
the lord-out-of-Urb
about two millennia.
Two thousand lents again
since the first barley mow.3
David Jones notes
2 The great rock over which the temple of Jerusalem was built was regarded not only as the navel of the world but as separating the waters of the abyss under the earth from the celestial waters.
3 It is usually supposed that Abraham moved north-west up the Euphrates valley from ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ about 2,000 BC. The cultivation of grain had begun in Mesopotamia at least by 4,000 BC.
additional notes
b Abraham’s journey from Ur of the Chaldees is recorded in Genesis chapters 11-12.
see also
semantic structures
glossary
a omphalos: a religious stone artifact; also the Greek word for navel. See here for its religious connotations.
comments
We now begin another theme: man the maker (homo faber).
The reference to Omphalos and the note indicate that we are again thinking of Jerusalem, and the turn of time and not any . . . but this link back to the Last Supper theme.