The Anathemata
Rite and Fore-time (continued)
Before the drift
was over the lime-face.
Sometime between the final and the penultimate débâcle.
(Already Arcturusa deploys his reconnoitering chills in greater strength: soon his last Putsch on any scale.)
Before this all but proto-historic transmogrification of the land-face.
Just before they rigged the half-lit stage for dim-eyed Cliob to step with some small confidence the measures of her brief and lachrymal pavan.
David Jones notes
additional notes
a Arcturus is one of the brightest stars in the sky, visible from both hemispheres. It was long ago recognised by early civilisations and used for navigational purposes. It is often used by DJ as a symbol for the cold north (possibly because of its assonance with ‘Arctic’). Here it is associated with the next, and possibly final, winter of the Great Cycle.
b Clio is the muse of history, for we are emerging from geological history into human history, which is likely to be short and tragic compared with geological timescales, particularly if the next phase of the Great Cycle is to be winter again.
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