AN EMPTY BALLROOM
Larry Clinton

Ella Fitzgerald with the Sy Oliver Orchestra (1953)


It was just an empty ballroom
Dark and still beyond repair
It was odd, but I'd swear I heard music in the air
Dancing feet, beat by beat, in an empty ballroom

All the walls were deep in shadow
Rich with dreams, but old and bare
There was no one around, yet I seem to hear the sound of those feet
Dancing feet, in this empty ballroom

Not long ago it was crowded with lovers
Is it so strange that their echoes remain?

Though it's just an empty ballroom
Dark and still beyond repair
As I peer through the gloom I feel memories in this room
We were there, a happy pair, in this empty ballroom

Dancing feet



(Transcribed by Samb Hicks - January 2015)