Janis Ian
Billie’s Bones
[Verse 1]
Billie's tears fall like dust
From the air into my eyes
Seeping in before they rust
Spilling secrets words can't hide
I am standing on the bones
Of a mound too high to climb
Selling secrets to atone
For a song that is not mine

[Chorus]
Billie's bones are white and bleached
Piled high and hard to reach
And the top looks cold and bleak
But I see farther when I stand
On Billie's bones in Billie's land

[Verse 2]
There's an orchid in her hair
There are bruises on her lips
I would worship if I dared
Kneeling at her fingertips
I would tell her how I've yearned
To be worthy of the grail
All these years and all I've learned
Is just how brilliantly I fail
[Chorus]
Billie's bones are white and bleached
Piled high and hard to reach
And the top looks cold and bleak
But I see farther when I stand
On Billie's bones in Billie's land

[Bridge]
Now the flesh of earth has passed
Now the joints have come undone
All that's left of her is ash
Scattered on the air like crumbs

[Verse 3]
There are voices on the wind
Stolen whispers, sacred moans
You can hear them through your skin
And the singing of the bones
When the wind blows from the east
I can taste her on my tongue
And the grave is lined and paved with
All the songs we never sung