Woke up this morning with that phrase running through my head, over and over, as happens sometimes with a song. Tarry the blow…tarry the blow. No music, just words.

A message from the dreamtime. Have to say I really like it, even though I’m not sure what it means. “The grace benediction phrase” came to me just that way, as a solitary phrase running through my head/heart when I woke up.

In neither example did I have any recollection of a dream that evoked those words. Just the words themselves, like encrusted amphorae at the bottom of the sea, the only remnants of an ancient Roman shipwreck. I must become a dream archeologist of the deep.

If I feel into it, it seems like a gentle imperative, a hint to wait. Heraclitus said “Every beast is driven to pasture by a blow.” Maybe not quite yet time for this beast to hit the green, green pasture. Need to hang out in the cattleyard for a while, milling and mooing.

Tarry on,

LWIII

(Languageological note: What did Heraclitus mean by that? I never spoke to any experts about it, in fact, have never spoken to anybody about it that I recall, other than the unwashed masses in my head. But this is what I think: It’s about how hard it is to change. Like the law of inertia, a body at rest needs a blow to get it hoppin’. Gee-up!)

2 Responses to “Tarry the blow”

1. Sandra Jensen says:

   March 26, 2009 at 6:23 am

   Here is one scholar’s commentary on that Heraclitus fragment:

   “every thing we have ever learned (which has
   turned out worth learning), has been learned with infinite difficulty and pain and often approached unwillingly.”

   Don’t forget Heraclitus also said:
   “The fairest universe is but a heap of rubbish piled up at random.”

   !

   Reply
2. LWIII says:

   March 26, 2009 at 9:10 am

   Thanks so much for the comment, Sandra! And for the scholar’s comment on that quote. Pretty much what I figured.

   That other quote doesn’t hold much attraction for me. Sounds like he was having an off day, wisdom-wise.

   xoxo!

   Reply