Today the heart of my heart is 14. Hard to believe. I can only make sense of this is by imagining that she’s still her little self, but riding around atop a large, almost-grownup body, like the alien in Men In Black.
I’ll wish her Happy Birthday with this song I wrote for her when she was four, “My Love Is the Armor.” My intention was to give her something she could always draw solace from, even as an adult, and after I’m gone. I have a no-BS rule when it come to my lyrics, especially when a song is for someone else. I want a song to be truly helpful, or I don’t bother. No feel-good platitudes, or, well, BS. I try hard to distill my intentions down to something that can honestly be of use to the song’s subject.
In thinking what real, lasting comfort I could leave FD, I came up with the idea that even after I’m gone, all the love and good wishes I’m currently filling her heart with will remain. And that should she ever be overcome with feelings of emptiness, she can trust that at least one thing remains inside her that will always, always be there: My love.
Happy birthday!
My Love Is the Armor
You can do what you want to do
Be what you want to be
Dreams will come, dreams will go
But whatever endeavor you choose
Just remember:
My love is the armor around your soul.
Into open eyes, tears must come
When there’s nothing else that can be done
If you wonder how to carry on
Remember my faith that you, come what may,
Will see in the darkness a way.
You can do what you want to do
Be what you want to be
Dreams will come, dreams will go
But whatever endeavor you choose
Just remember:
My love is the armor around your soul.
Could you know,
Can you see
All that you
Mean to me?
I’m here tonight
Just outside
And warmed by the glow of the window light
I’m stunned in the dusk at my lucky life
I can’t help but think about you inside
Secure in a world of your own.
You can do what you want to do
Be what you want to be
Dreams will come, dreams will go
But whatever endeavor you choose
Just remember:
My love is the armor around your soul.
When days come along
Cold and dark
And the sun itself
Has lost its spark
When there’s no one there
To take your hand
Though empty inside you may feel, I know
My love there will mean it’s not so.
You can do what you want to do
Be what you want to be
Dreams will come, dreams will go
But whatever endeavor you choose
Just remember:
My love is the armor around your soul,
My love is the armor around your soul,
My love is the armor around your soul.
℗ 2006 Robby Berman
Birthday cake pops by Doc
