My grandmother's loveletters

I went up to my attic To put away your letters In a grey metal box with two broken locks Next to an old birdcage When I went to put your letters inside I found another package Covered with dust and smelling of must That came from another age My grandmother's love letters Held in her trembling hand When she was seventeen They were a world to her They were her youth They made her whisper low Seventy-seven years ago My grandmother's love letters So firmly in her grasp She'd read each line and gasp That meant she breathed the air of long ago I loved her so Some things, you never know What makes the tide come in Or the little flower grow? How father time decides he'll come for one of us Some things you never know What makes the eagle fly And the southern wind blow? These things, they come, they go Like portents, omens, dreams You never know My grandmother's love letters When she was seventeen Think what they had to mean They were a world to her They were her youth She tied them with a bow Seventy-seven years ago My grandmother's love letters So firmly in her grasp She'd read one line and gasp And I'm the air, she breathed so long ago I miss her so Some things, you never know What makes the tide come in Or the little flower grow? How father time decides he'll come for one of us Some things, you never know What makes the eagle fly And the southern wind blow? These things, they come, they go Like portents, omens, dreams You never know