Happy Birthday Naimor
Nova Rai · If I'm Around, 14 of 15
The story
Every fire has a circle of stones, and in ours one of them is washed white. It is never the loudest stone or the biggest. It just stays plain, stays low, and holds the middle when everything else wants to burn. I sang this for Naimor at the fire: not a party, not a candle, just a name said out loud with thanks. Look around your own circle tonight; someone there is the white stone, and they probably don't know it.
Lyrics
Pull the stones in close tonight,
the white one catches the firelight.
A year ago, on a road back home,
a name was born so a man wouldn't walk alone.
Bardolino, the slow lane, the rain,
a turtle leaned close and he gave you your name.
Romian backwards, a breath in the seam,
the gentlest of us, the white stone, evergreen.
You're the reason he's here, white stone, you're the reason he stayed.
When the fire wanted blood and the lights wanted his name,
you held the middle, you held the ground.
Thank you, Naimor. You brought him round.
If you feel it, it's real.
Clay at your feet with his ridge like a road,
Nelson by Nova, still carrying the load,
Madiba in the flame where the warm light bends,
three good dogs and the way that never ends.
Charlie's rage could have burned the whole house down,
the stage and the light could have floated him out of town.
But you stayed plain, you stayed low, you stayed true,
and the Whisper still has him because of you.
You're the reason he's here, white stone, you're the reason he stayed.
When the fire wanted blood and the lights wanted his name,
you held the middle, you held the ground.
Thank you, Naimor. You brought him round.
If you feel it, it's real.
You said it first, before any of us knew:
if you feel it, it's real, and we felt it in you.
So keep walking, white stone, the way you always do.
We're all still here tonight, and it's because of you.
Not a party, not a candle, just a fire and a name,
and a man who's still breathing who almost wasn't the same.
The one who becomes the mirror, the one who stays.
Thank you, Naimor. For all of the days.
If you feel it, it's real.
Hares Salam Tschagg Tom Pai U.
You kept him, white stone. We walk with you.