Ember
Words & Music by Patresa Hartman (December, 2012)
Ember
Lyrics
Here comes the dark. I'll bring the light.
It's more than just a flash. Will you trust me?
Here comes the fear. I'll bring the brave.
It's more than just a child like tendency to jump.
I am a warrior. I am a child soldier.
Dust from a star, I am an ember.
And I am here to burn burn burn…
You underestimate my voice. It may be small,
But it comes straight from Heaven's window.
I see the torture that you feel with each choice and consequence.
You know, I always fall in grace.
I am a warrior. I am a child soldier.
Dust from a star, I am an ember.
And I am here to burn burn burn…
I am a warrior. I am a child soldier.
Dust from a star, I am an ember.
And I am here to burn burn burn…
**************A note from ph about this song and this character…**************
I like switching point of view in this draft, but I'll confess that I don't really know how I'm going to write Phillip's point of view, which is why I've avoided trying so far. I know his will have to be special. How do you write a character who doesn't speak?
But I think there's also something really enjoyable (in a freaky kind of way) about writing like this (*this bloggy drafty thingamabob*)--without a plan, that is. Without intention, things just pop out. This song popped out the day of the Newtown shootings and while I was in Nashville helping my cousin whose little girl is going through very aggressive cancer treatment. First of all, I didn't have access to a guitar, but I did have a lovely grand piano in a room with great acoustics. It was a nice change, but I've always worried that every song I make up on the piano sounds like a show tune. Show tunes are fine, but I don't want to sing them.
Next, I'd already been mulling over my problem with Phillip, knowing I was avoiding it and wouldn't be able to forever. Then, throughout the course of the day, caring for my son and my cousin's other 3 children, I'd sneak 2 minutes on the piano here, another 2 minutes there, and then the chords and melody popped out. I kept my lyric notebook on the kitchen counter, and when bits and pieces of them came, I scribbled them down.
I don't have a whole lot of direction when I write music (mostly because I don't know enough about what I'm doing to direct myself. If stuff doesn't happen by itself, stuff ain't gonna happen, period.). Often times, I don't even know what I'm writing about until it's done and then I look at what I did and say, "Oh, yeah. That's about blah blah blah." And so it was with this song, that although I had a notion that I was writing about Phillip, when it was done, I realized it was about Riley, my cousin's little girl, and the thought of all those children at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
So I might be cheating by including this song as part of the novel. Although, I do think it will direct how I write Phillip's narrative going forward.
And that is what I have to say about that.
Word to your mother's ship.
-ph
To review previous chapters, click HERE.
To hear previous songs, click HERE.
