Monday Music - Dear Emily

Dear Emily,
I read your letter.
I was taken by your
Wit and sensibility.
Your curiosity
Stood tall in every honest word.
But Emily,
The world is different now.
Your words committed into hands
Of those who cannot see.
The light's been put away--
A neighbor holds the lamp
To witness your good-bye.

Opinion is a flitting thing,But truth outlasts the sun.
If then we cannot own them both,
Possess the oldest one.

Dear Emily,
I saw your wonder--
The childlike awe you held
For garden bees and butterflies.
You looked beyond the scars
To find the place where meanings are.
So Emily,
You then retreated
To a private world--
Tradition could not swallow you.
Hidden behind your door
You looked beyond the world
Believing there was more.

Opinion is a flitting thing,
But truth outlasts the sun.
If then we cannot own them both,
Possess the oldest one.

© Words and Music by Dave Burkum, from Breath a Little Deeper. The chorus lyric is a poem by Emily Dickenson. Copyright 1997 by Dave Burkum (DBM&M, PO Box 18771, Mpls, MN 55418). CLICK HERE to Buy or Listen.