Steering By Starlight

" ... it is an ever-fixèd mark/That looks on tempests and is never shaken;/It is the star to every wand'ring bark ..." [Wm. Shakespeare Sonnet #116]

Ursa Minor Constellation [Photo from https://starregistration.net/constellations/ursa-minor-constellation.html]

Shakespeare was speaking of Polaris, the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor — and of course, he was also speaking of love. Easily visible to the naked eye at night in the Northern Hemisphere, Polaris is commonly called the North Star, or Pole Star, but it has many other names. It’s the star enslaved people are said to have relied upon to keep them going in the right direction when they escaped, heading North towards freedom. Some of its other names are Lodestar, ‘Star of The Sea’ (Stella Maris), Sea-Star, and the now-obsolete Shipman-star. In Italy and Provence it has been called Tramontane because it can been seen beyond the Alps.

Because Polaris lies almost in line with the Earth's rotational axis over the North Pole, it appears nearly motionless in the sky, other stars and constellations seeming to rotate around it. The relatively stable position of this star in the Northern Sky provides a fixed point of reference that has been used in navigation for centuries. And because it is so easy to find, it provides a point of reference that orients even the casual stargazer.

The knowledge that everyone I know can look up and see the same moon and stars that I do somehow still delights me inordinately, just as it did when I was a child. Now, when I’m asked how I maintain my equilibrium these days, at this particular time in our history, I have no quick and ready answer. But my thoughts do keep coming back to the idea of a guiding light. Polaris plays the role pretty well — especially on a clear & frosty winter’s night, when all the stars in the Universe appear to be blinking out distant messages in code. And especially when I think of all the other people — known to me or not — who just might be looking up there for guidance in that very same moment.

POLARIS

Imagine yourself to be a ship

rising and plunging,

ploughing furrows

across a vast field of sea

Meeting head-on

each shift in currents,

the pounding of rain,

every lashing of the storm

Leaving in your wake

a promise to return,

as all wind, fair or foul

is meant to be

Carry with care

those within your hold:

though your ribs may crack

as you dance upon the swells

Your heart is strong

and will bear you safely

to the other side,

stout ship that you are.