Agnes

作词 : Vanessa Tinberus

作曲 : Vanessa Tinberus

编曲 : Vanessa Tinberus

You'll find the books and papers somewhere on those floorboards

My mother's dresses are folded exactly as they were before

This house has been haunted a little while ago so people stop coming around

But I'm pretty sure, it was her lingering to check if I'm doing well

Agnes was whistling by the lakeside

Her chiffon skirt lightly shined in the summer breeze

It was serene 25 degree

Rumor had it that she was the library of the town

It was fun to decipher how that could be

The source of wisdom's never been seen

Was she an outcast as well

Like my guitar and lonely self

What I needed was a lighthouse in the northern woods

I couldn't trek too far

Agnes was throwing pebbles into the lake

Her hair was cut short, resting on the blue sweater

It was homesick 17 degree

People in this town called me 'the guy from nowhere'

My stories were told from the strings to the air

She always stood with a child at the periphery

Did she wonder about my name

When I practiced by the lake

What I needed was a fiery ask in the northern woods

I couldn't trek too far

One day she knocked on my door

And handed me a snowdrop wrapped in a speckled cloth

'You remind me of my mother

Who got the same pair of emerald eyes'

Then we swapped the first quarter by the fireplace

She taught me how to whistle and baked a lemon cake before she left

'I don't have much to share'

Agnes appeared in the front row ever since

With a seasonal flower picked from her garden

Regardless of the weather

Sometimes I followed her to the Kingston's house

Where she would lecture the triplets and that child

She had the cheapest tuition hereabout

I was still trying to figure out

How she learned everything without

Further education beyond middle school

She grew up on her own

But she called this town home

Agnes would share the stories of every street

And the list of the shops that were once a hit

The owners moved away to chase some kind of dreams

I got introduced to old and young she bumped into

From the small conversations she knew

Governess on demand and the countrywide latest news

With a primitive approach

She became a living chronicle

What she ever got was the desire to learn a bit more

It's the eternal theme she was groping for

One day she knocked on my door

And showed me the headline 'the guy under the sycamore can bring peace to the war'

'You're onto something big, you rising star

Don't forget to quote me in your old-age memoir'

How could I not

The earthy charm, the evocative sounds

The tangled vines behind her back

That's what made me who I am

You probably know the rest of my journey

The boat floated into a capitalized dream

The lake was our secret base

When cicadas sang, our paths interlaced

Her avid appetites still couldn't satisfy

The beauty was crystalized through quills and dyes

She kept all the letters and clippings of me

In a wooden box we built in the smell of kerosene

Then I was lost in the praise

That I earned from different states

Coats of dust on the same postmark

Stacked near the window shade

Till the words were almost buried

Flashbacks turned to a movie

It's about the most placid heart

Kissing the world with ecstasy

It kept calling me

Calling me

Calling me home

'You're my north star, my lighthouse

I keep my feet on the ground to feel your touch

Acorns fell, winter's coming

You should get back on the road

Don't have them waiting

I'll be fine

I'll be fine'

The oak tree is rustling by the streetway

The name of which is remembered by a generation nurtured by her saving grace

Wherever I go, I'll plant a seed

And name it Agnes

The honorary graduate of Grand Marais