SONG LYRICS

I Whisper Your Name

Adaption, from free verse poem to song lyrics

Photo by Brandi Redd on Unsplash, modified by author

Earlier this month, my free verse poem entitled I Whisper Your Name was published in Write Under the Moon. The following are the lyrics to a pop song that uses that poem as its starting point, but in a way that serves the needs and interests of the singer and their audience, and that allows this text to be what it needs to be for the purpose of music. The relationship between the poem and these lyrics is not that of parent and child, but that of siblings — they share a common DNA, but have distinct qualities and interests, and have grown in their own unique directions.

VERSE 1:
I whisper your name
in this empty room,
even as our distance grows.
I let your name
shape the silence,
so I can pull it close.

VERSE 2:
I whisper your name
to form a ghost of you,
something I can almost see.
Your name drifts away
from my lips and becomes
the air all around me.