Across the River of Stars (Weaver Girl #1)
Song lyrics
All the dreams you weave for us are just as wispy as the clouds
Our future is some castle in the sky
You’re not just across the tracks; we seem to live in different worlds
I know I’m just an ordinary guy
You are graceful as an angel, you’re as bright as any star
But there’s something rare that I can give you, too:
When your head is in the air my feet are firmly on the ground,
With sincere, committed faith to see us through
I know someday we’ll find a way to be together
Though the stars cross against us now it seems
Although it takes another year I’ll gladly wait to hold you near,
Till then you’ll be the girl who weaves my dreams.
Outside, the silver autumn candle light is gentle on the screen
The silken breeze fans shining fireflies.
I’ll climb /whatever steps it takes to lift our own romantic dream,
And join you where the stars shine by our side.
I know someday we’ll find a way to be together
Though the stars cross against us now it seems
Although it takes another year, I’ll gladly wait to hold you near
Til then you’ll be the girl who weaves my dreams.
The songs and stories tell sad tales of star-crossed lovers
But I doubt they ever had a love like ours
Although we have to wait a year to make some magic bridge
appear
We’ll join hands across that river made of stars.
We’ll join our hands across that river made of stars.
Folk Tale
The Weaver Girl and the Her Boy
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In Chinese folklore, the Weaver Girl (the star Vega) and the Herd Boy (the star Altair) are celestial lovers parted by the Milky Way. Once a year, they are allowed to meet on the Seventh Night of the Seventh Month. The Chinese Qixi festival (sometimes called the “Chinese valentine’s day”) celebrates each year’s happy tryst.
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There are many versions of this tale. Here is one:
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The Weaver Girl’s heavenly task is weaving rainbows. Her guardian, the celestial Queen Mother of the West, does not approve of Weaver Girl’s interest in the Herd Boy star. So the Queen Mother uses her supernatural power to confine the Herd Boy to Earth as a lowly mortal farmer. Nevertheless, the Herd Boy’s talking ox (another celestial figure banished to Earth) helps him find a route back to his lover in heaven, either on the back of the ox’s flying hide or by crossing a enchanted bridge formed by blackbirds across the Milky Way. Love triumphs . . . at least once a year.
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Many Chinese poems allude to this folk tale.
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Tu Mu, Autumn Evening
Silvery autumn candlelight chills the painted screen,
A little fan of light silk flaps the streaming fireflies.
Cool as water, the night sheen of the steps into the sky,
She lies and watches the Weaver Girl meet the Herdboy
star.
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A.C. Graham trans., Poems of the Late T’ang (New York: New York Review Books, 1977) 139.
My song: Across the River of Stars (Weaver Girl #1) approaches the folktale as a dreamy romance, the guy from the poor side of the tracks mooning for a woman from a ‘better’ family. A song filled with longing, but also hope and determination.
A poor guy falling for a rich girl (or vice versa) is a country music meme. The cliche allows a working class guy to project that the princess would be happier with him than with her rich husband or boyfriend. And maybe she would be. Cf. Ray Price’s A Different Kind of Flower (written by Gary Sefton); Jeanne Pruett’s Satin Sheets (written by Willis Allan Ramsey); Conway Twitty, Tight Fittin’ Jeans; Ray Price, Pick Me Up On Your Way Down (writer: Harlan Howard).
My take is much more romantic and sweet. Its sentiment is closer to old songs such as Keeper of My Heart.