The Anathemata
Sherthursdaye and Venus day (continued)
but he
he must be broken off at knee.1
Within, in the lighted sacellum,2
as yet the signuma
shorn soon
draggled at Black Fosse3
lopped at the aggerb
stands dressed—reg’mental
and the binding sacramentum4
is reaffirmed upon it.
Down the traversed history-paths
his stumbling Grenadiere
in the communication-ways
his burdened infants
shall learn like vows to take.
David Jones notes
1 Ibid, verse 5.
‘Then they sent men with scythes so sharp
To cut him off at knee
And then poor Johnny Barleycorn
They served him barbarously.
Chorus: Fol the dol the didiay
Fol the dol the diddy aggy woo.’
2 The chapel in the praetorium of any legionary camp in which the standards were kept and venerated.
3 Cf. the meaning of the name Cedron ‘the black torrent’. When dry this water-course is a squalid ditch like a fosse below the east wall of the city; at least, that is the kind of memory I have of it—there is also the ancient tradition that our Lord stumbled and fell into a runnel or ditch in this vicinity when being brought captive from Gethsemane.
4 Cf. the sacramentum, the oath of allegiance in the Roman army, with which the Christian use of the word has certain affinities.
additional notes
see also
semantic structures
glossary
a signum: standard.
b agger: mound.
comments
Jesus at the Last Supper and Passion is related to the Roman standard or flag which is saluted by the soldier and which represents the soldierly group. It is, however, seen as a re-affirmation because of the Christian belief that by these acts, Jesus instituted a New Covenant or relationship between God and Man which will now apply in the future (and will be reaffirmed at every celebration of the Mass). For more theological detail, see Wikipedia.