Friday, August 30, 2013

the calculus of umbrals


The Basilica di San Clemente in Rome has a wonderful mosaic in the apse. There are 13 sheep and above them an incredible spiral of branches. It is clear to me that this is the world tree, that these images are pre-christian and that the church has appropriated these symbols as they have many others. I was enjoying this artwork and then I read a meditation that Cardinal Ratzinger - later Pope Benedict (now former Pope Benedict) - wrote about this work of art. The result is this poem.


The bold italics words in the poem are taken from Benedict XVI. (ND) The Apse Mosaic, Basilica di San Clemente. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.



the calculus of umbrals
in the calculus of umbrals
the shadowy variable
allows pretence to become proof

the apse mosaic in the basilica of San Clemente
has thirteen sheep
above this coven of sheep
the tree of life multiplies
calculates infinity
becomes the world tree
its branches spiralling endlessly
the sheep are breeding
producing new flocks
same same each year
and the shepherds endlessly at work

the sheep bleat
in the calculus of umbrals
the shadowy variable
allows pretence to become proof

but says the man of God
this eternal circling is futile
it is endless repetition
what we need is progress

the sheep bleat
in the calculus of umbrals
the shadowy variable
allows pretence to become proof

that vain circular motion
is broken open by the cross
the new dynamic of a world
no longer circling but ascending

the sheep bleat
in the calculus of umbrals
the shadowy variable
allows pretence to become proof

the fishhook of God
has put human history
on the up and up
we men are your branches
death is love
we have taken over
we are ascending
to the fathers’ true progress

the sheep bleat
in the calculus of umbrals
the shadowy variable
allows pretence to become proof
 
earth shatters
branches break
the cycle is broken
broken open
the forest is shattered
broken open
clear felled
the cross hewn
the man crucified
broken open
the cross has changed the dynamic
now human history is on the up and up

the sheep bleat
in the calculus of umbrals
the shadowy variable
allows pretence to become proof




In the last image on the right, the wolf is depicted supporting the cross. I found this in a book this morning and it is held in the Vatican Museum. It tells a kind of truth, that christianity is simultaneously built on pagan traditions and denies them. Sounds familiar.

The wild, as I wrote in Wild Politics, is the source of capitalism's destructive profit mongering. Without the wild, without biodiversity, there would be nothing to capitalise on. And yet that biodiversity, the wild wolf, the world tree is reviled. And Cardinal Ratzinger above says that the endless repetition is futile. This poem is therefore a critique of that world view.

2 comments:

  1. The lamb of God. Jesus. Lambs, when the farmer goes to slaughter them, don't fight. I have worked with lambs. The moment you take them with a firm hand, they grow limp. They surrender, completely. So Jesus surrendered when the wolves came. And wolves are forever archetypal (and actual) predators of sheep.

    Wonderful poem, especially the music in the refrain.

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  2. I grew up on a sheep farm and know that reaction. I'm also interested in how the wolves became demonised - because in the pre-christian Rome story the wolf is incredibly gentle.

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