Children of Stone - Voices in Crystal

It begins:

Chapter 1 -- The Star

“O beautiful one, Asher-ellit;
Immaculate one of the goddesses,
Torch of Heaven and earth,
Radiance of all the lands,
Goddess ‘Lady of Heaven',
First-begotten of Sin,
First-born of Ningal,
Sweet sister of Shamas
O Asher-Anu, you rule the heavens;
Oh Queen of Morning and Evening Sky,"

Marai the shepherd's, voice rose like the drone of a horn.

“Come bless me this starry night.
Shine for one who begs to serve you.
Come bless me this starry night."

Each intoned phrase he sang would be different in some way, but each would worship a particular aspect of his beloved, yet dreaded goddess. After each composed verse, he would chant "Come bless me this starry night" until fatigue overtook him.
Some nights the big man would sing only a few moments. When he finished, he would trudge cheerlessly into the inner recesses of his cave home to collapse in sleep. On more ecstatic nights, he sang of his love for the goddess until it was nearly daybreak.
Ever since his little wife had died, Marai had shunned the company of the travelers who moved through his family's wadi seeking shade, water and supplies. They were almost always headed west toward the road around the mountains and up to Kina. Sometimes the travelers made their way down into the less hospitable wastes, hoping for a miracle. Some would continue moving along the Copper Road into the protected East Gate of the Kemet lands.
Tonight, Marai hadn't felt quite as bad about eating with the travelers, even though his cousin Sheb drew him aside to continue the inevitable argument about their safety. It was past time to move on, the shepherd mused. His thoughts weren't so solidly on the goddess, tonight, even though he sang heartily enough to her. He kept pausing from time to time to see if anyone from the encampment below was annoyed by the melodious baritone he was sending up beyond the heavens.

You change our fates,
Evil turns to good;
I have sought you for so long among the gods;
I have offered all to you;
Come bless me this starry night"
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So I'm setting the stage. We know the main character is Marai and that he's a shepherd. His life has been full of wandering and tragedy. We know he loves to sing to his goddess whom he calls Ashera. She is a fantasy combination of Ashera and Inanna, two ancient fertility deities, but he focuses on her loving aspects more than her warlike ones. In so many ways he's quite innocent and naive.