Happy Birthday, Sweetheart
Today would’ve been A’s 56th birthday, and it would feel very wrong if I didn’t mark the day. I am certainly very glad that he was born; it was the dying part I didn’t much care for. Strange that he was born on a 15th and died on a 15th. Beware the Ides of everything. He is ageless now, though, and I’m certain that he’s better than fine. And keeping that in mind, I’m doing my best to get there.
As I’ve mentioned more than too many times, George Harrison was A’s favorite Beatle, and I have found that his music has been a great spiritual comfort to me. The perfect message at the perfect time, really. And I have since learned that George himself faced his death with peace and joy in his heart, excited to experience what he knew in his heart would be a grand adventure once he said goodbye to this earth. I find that inspiring and comforting as well. Incidentally, George was a Pisces, too.
The song below, (which you can hear by clicking on the title and downloading it from my briefcase), I dedicate to A, who is the reason I ever gave George a second hearing. The song is a happy birthday song to my boy, who is a billion years old today, but doesn’t look a day over 55. I love you, Sweetie.
The Rising Sun, by George Harrison
On the street of villains taken for a ride
You can have the devil as a guide
Crippled by the boundaries, programmed into guilt
‘Til your nervous system starts to tilt
In a room of mirrors you can see for miles
But everything that’s there is in disguise
Every word you’ve uttered and every thought you’ve had
Is all inside your file the good and the bad
But in the rising sun you can feel your life begin
Universe at play inside your DNA
You’re a billion years old today
Oh the rising sun and the place it’s coming from
Is inside of you and now your payment’s overdue
Oh the rising sun, oh the rising sun
On the avenue of sinners I have been employed
Working there ‘til I was near destroyed
I was almost a statistic inside a doctor’s case
When I heard the messenger from inner space
He was sending me a signal that for so long I had ignored
But he held on to my umbilical cord
Until the ghost of memory trapped in my body mind
Came out of hiding to become alive
And in the rising sun you can hear your life begin
And it’s here and there nowhere and everywhere
Though its atmosphere is rare
Oh the rising sun and the place that it’s coming from
Is inside of me and now I feel it constantly
Oh the rising sun, oh the rising sun
And in the rising sun you can feel your life begin
Universe at play inside your DNA
You’re a billion years old today
Oh the rising sun and the place it’s coming from
Is inside of you, now your payment’s overdue
Oh the rising sun, oh the rising sun
Oh the rising sun, ooh