From the recording Between the Wars
Lyrics
Elmira
m.litton
I hold my heart in tune to the moonlit night, the song’s delay
In my hands I seek to grasp the soft-colored sky, the ocean’s spray
Yet here I lie in the rolling sand, I’ve folded my legs, folded my hands
I kneel and bow and pray that I might stand
And take and hold and love the spirit Elmira
Elmira is the one I love with all my heart, with all my soul
The dew-silent bird that sings a song I will never know
Elmira walks the blue hills at dawn in a shadow dress, a purple veil
Her image is here then gone, her dancing form soon dispels
O if I could rise above all I’m made, evolve into something like the shade
I’d laugh at all the fools who’ve cried and begged
And take and hold and love the spirit Elmira
Now her vision is gone as a dream will fade into the day
And what was sand and foam, an inland sea, is now sand and clay
O if by song her soul would rise, and if by singing she’d never die
I’d stand and sing and reach beyond the sky
And take and hold and love the spirit Elmira
Elmira is the one I love with all my heart, with all my soul
The dew-silent bird that sings a song I will never know