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 burrows, 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 learnt the secret of the shifting, whispering sands

How I escaped 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 whispering, softly whispering
As it slowly moves along
And for those who stop and listen
It will sing this mournful song

Of sidewinders and the horn 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