The Shifting Whispering Sands

The Shifting Whispering Sands - Jim Reeves (吉姆·里夫斯)

Written by：Mary Hadler/Jack Gilbert

I discovered the valley of the shifting whispering sands

While prospecting for gold in one of our western states

I saw the silent windmills the crumbling water tanks

The bones of cattle and burrows picked clean by buzzards

Bleached by the desert sun

I stumbled over a crumbling buckboard nearly covered by the sands

And stopping to rest I heard a tinkling whispering sound

And suddenly realised that even though

The wind was quiet the sand did not lie still

I seemed to be surrounded by a mystery so heavy

And oppressive I can scarcely breath

For days and weeks I wandered aimlessly in this valley

Seeking answers to the many questions

That raced through my fevered mind

Where was everyone why the white bones the dry wells

The barren valley where people must have lived and died

Finally I could go no farther my food and water gone

I sat down and buried my face in my hands and resting thus

I learnt the secret of the shifting whispering sands

How I manage to escaped from the valley I do not know

But now to pay my final debt for being spared

I must tell you what I learned out there on the desert

So many years ago

When the day is oddly quiet

And the breeze seems not to blow

One would think the sand was resting

But you'll find this is not so

It is whisp'ring softly whisp'ring

As it slowly moves along

And for those who stop and listen

It will sing this mournful song

Of sidewinders and the horntoads

Of the Thorny Chaparral

In the sunny days and moonlight nights

The coyote's lonely yell

How the stars seem you could touch them

As you lay and gaze on high

At the heavens where we're hoping

We'll be going when we die