Shifting Whispering Sands 

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 burros 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 realized 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 could scarcely breathe; 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 learned the secret of the shifting whispering sands.

How I managed to escape 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 horned toads 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.

Yes it always whispers to me of the days of long ago
When the settlers and the miners fought the crafty Navaho

How the cattle roamed the valley, happy people worked the land;

And now everything is covered by the shifting whispering sands

How the miner left his buckboard went to work his claim that day

And the burros broke their halters when they thought he'd gone to stay

Wandered far in search of water on to Old Sidewinder's Well
And there their bones picked clean by buzzards that were circling when they fell

                

How they found the aged miner lying dead upon the sand
After months they could but wonder if he died by human hand

So they dug his grave and laid him on his back and crossed his hands
And his secret still is hidden by the shifting whispering sands.

This is what they whispered to me on the quiet desert air
Of the people, and the cattle and the miner lying there
If you want to learn their secret wander through this quiet land

And I'm sure you'll hear the story of the shifting, whispering sands

Of the shifting whispering sands

Hope you enjoyed this beautiful number by Jim Reeves