the deepening ground

According to Constellation-Guide.com, “In Greek mythology, Aquila is identified as the eagle that carried Zeus’ thunderbolts and was once dispatched by the god to carry Ganymede, the young Trojan boy Zeus desired, to Olympus to be the cup bearer of the gods.” Sure, there are other possible connections to Zeus’s lustful pursuits of women, but, as I’ve said before, that doesn’t interest me. And yet, where do I go with the carrier of lighting bolts? Thankfully, despite the distracting atmosphere of our local Dunkin’ Donuts (the coffee and doughnut DOES help the creative process), my writing crony, James, offered the suggestion that Aquila, as a song, could explore the dissatisfaction of being tied to a system that is sometimes good, but often evil. Aquila is stuck doing the bidding of others rather than being free to do what he wants. That seed took root.

The song removes the myth from a merely Greco-Roman context and instead examines the tension between determinism and freewill. “Aquila” opens with an exhausted defiance. He’s done being the puppet dragged about by things outside of his control. There’s a longing to be free to soar beyond the constraints he feels, tied down in his role as servant to the gods. He wants to make his own way, take his own paths, do his own bidding. But ultimately he comes to see that the song that’s deep within him is intrinsically tied to his role as light-bearer. And in being who he has been designed to be, his life takes on deeper meaning and leads others to the source of all light and life, the One who rose above and conquered sin and brings life out of death. Obviously we have left the realm of mere pagan mythology and moved into J. R. R. Tolkien’s view of myth.

“We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming ‘sub-creator’ and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic ‘progress’ leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil.”

J. R. R. Tolkien

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Aquila

Vincent H. Anastasi - 2023

Tonight I cannot carry fire - the flames’ expired - now here I lie
No puppet life on twitching wires - the grounded kite of spent desire

I bear no load on eagle’s wings, nor tease the heights with lofty dreams
So here I wait ‘til stillness sings and stirs within the heart of kings

       So carry me and I will carry every lightning bolt that falls
       When you call me
       Let me be the one who lights the way when darkness leaves us lost
       Aquila calling

I longed to soar on my own winds, to make my way with my own hands
But one can’t rise above one’s sins nor animate these broken limbs

Now in the vast expanse of sky beneath the velvet veil of night
Forever turn your naked eye and trace my shape as summer dies

       CHORUS (2x)

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