Jon-Yngve Bakke

(This song is about poet Emily Dickinson) Verse 1 They found her pages in a drawer Bound with ribbon, blue, folded gently Like the dresses that she never wore to town A hundred thousand sunsets, never seen Never read aloud Verse 2 I picture her beside the window frame Watching lilacs bend — in April’s ember Did she ever long to hear her name On strangers’ lips, like it was a treasure? Chorus I wonder if she was thinking: If a poem lives and no one reads it Did I live at all, or was I dreaming? Is a masterpiece a masterpiece If it remains within the seams? Nobody knew, nobody knows Nobody knows but me Verse 2 The garden gate was always open But her footsteps never strayed Did she trace the sky through windowpanes Let birds carry her away? One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted Or, so her own words say Chorus I wonder if she was thinking: If a poem lives and no one reads it Did I live at all, or was I dreaming? Is a masterpiece a masterpiece If it remains within the seams? Nobody knew, nobody knows Nobody knows but me Bridge Maybe she never needed us at all— Maybe the words were enough — just to write them down Maybe she never thought of legacy Just the quiet sound— Of ink on Paper— Breath on Glass— That Fireflies Flicker, oh so fast— The Hush of Petals when they Fall— The Slant of Light on winter afternoons— The Buzz of a Bee in a still room Chorus I wonder if she was thinking: If a poem lives and no one reads it Did I live at all, or was I dreaming? Is a masterpiece a masterpiece If it remains within the seams? Nobody knew, nobody knows Nobody knows but me