the deepening ground

I’ve returned to the series of constellation songs I began working on a few years ago. I had stalled out on Ursa Major, finding the Greek myth less than inspiring. There’s only so much of Zeus being a lusty deity one can stomach. On revisiting the constellation itself, I found the fact that the two stars named Dubhe and Merak can serve as a navigational pointer to Polaris in Ursa Minor far more intriguing. What if the purpose of Ursa Major is really only to point to Ursa Minor? How could that apply to my life?

In this song, which will serve as a prelude to the song I intend to write for Ursa Minor, the entire message centers around the idea that like the constellation points to something greater, we too who claim to follow Christ should be pointing to something greater. We have flipped the paradigm, seeing our own lives as the “major” focus, and our faith as something “minor,” when it should be the exact opposite. My life should pale in comparison to my Polaris, or pole star. In reality, my life should simply point to that nearly fixed star around which all others should revolve, the perfect navigational point for life itself.

Below is a rough demo of what the song will eventually be. I envision cello, percussion, and possibly some additional instrumentation if I ever get the time to complete the song professionally. As the lyrics emphasize in final line, in living and in dying, may we ever point to True North.

Ursa Major

Vincent H. Anastasi - 2021

Time is my pursuer;
His weapon is my death.
He hunts me through the hours;
He comes to steal my breath.
Wounded, I am bleeding;
The autumn's turning red,
And only in the heavens will I ever find a bed,
And only in the heavens will I ever find a bed.

Ever in my dying
I light the way to life,
A blazing asterism
Most vivid in the night.
I have no other purpose
Than revealing who you are,
Plowing through the darkness, I point to the North Star,
Plowing through the darkness, I point to the North Star.

Fix your eyes upon me,
I'm a blazing double star,
An earthen constellation
That maps the human heart.
I am the horse and rider,
The evening bear that ambles forth;
In living and in dying, ever pointing to true North,
In living and in dying, ever pointing to true North,
In living and in dying, ever pointing to true North.