The Anathemata
Sherthursdaye and Venus day (continued)
firthing forth from the Four Avons
himself the afon-head.1
His cry
from the axile stipe
at the dry node-heighta
when the dark cloud brights the trembling lime-rock.
(All known clouds distil showers.
Is there no water in that dark cloud
for the parched lime-face?
What unknown cloud then, is this?)b
David Jones notes
1 Avons, pronounced as in Stratford-on-Avon, whereas afon is pronounced av-von, the Welsh common noun, meaning a river, from which ‘Avon’ derives. And cf. Gen. II, 10.
additional notes
DJ note 1: Genesis 2:10 reads ‘And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.’
a axile: adjective from axle, that around which the whole revolves; stipe: stem or trunk of a tree; dry: because the waters of life have not been released since Christ is not yet dead; node-height: it is on that height of the Cross that all things are knotted together.
b cloud: According to St Luke (23:44), a dark cloud covered the earth at the hour of Christ’s death. There is also a reference to the medieval mystical treatise The Cloud of Unknowing.
see also
For the four rivers in Genesis, see page 235 note 4.
comments
The man on the Cross, the Son of the God of all water, is himself dry.