the deepening ground

Deep within me there’s a longing for a rest and peace – a sabbath, if you will – that everything in life seems diametrically opposed to me ever finding. “Canis Major” addresses the life of the endless pursuit. According to the myth, Laelaps, the fastest dog in the world, was destined to catch anything it pursued. As the story goes, this canine wonder was brought to Thebes to deal with a particularly speedy fox (you know how the little foxes spoil the vineyards). Once the race began, it became clear that Laelaps would never catch the fox, nor the fox ever evade the great dog, so Zeus immortalized the greater dog by setting him among the stars. For me, the song serves as an invitation to exit the hamster wheel of the perpetual pursuit of more. In fact, it’s a call to be pursued by the only source of true and lasting peace, once we “cease to chase the stars.”

Canis Major

vincent h. anastasi (2019)

Another fox is on the run, another evening has begun
And I will chase until I turn to stone
For I am destined to pursue through evening’s black till morning’s blue
Gnaws away the night down to the bone (REPEAT)

So come pursue me; I’m willing to be caught
To trade this chase I bought just to be still
Let the earth keep turning; this heart within me’s yearning
For a rest I’ll never catch until I cease to chase the stars

Though I have never lost the scent, I’ve searched the earth and firmament
Yet never end up nearer to the goal
Through winter nights, I blaze my quest for still retreating promised rest
And always it eludes this desert soul (REPEAT)

So come pursue me; I’m willing to be caught
To trade this chase I bought just to be still
Let the earth keep turning; this heart within me’s yearning
For a rest I’ll never catch until I cease to chase the stars