Methinks I See Thee, Jane

When the hush of night lays deep, when the moon shines eerie red
When most watchers are asleep, and even nightmares stay in bed
I waited and I waited, to find the pictures in my mind
But a scene I’d not created and those pictures interetwined
Within a tangled green, a firefly flit about
A scene almost unseen, just a flash, the flash goes out
 
CHORUS:                   With contradictions all about
                                    My convictions turn to doubt
                                    O, how bitter a thought’s free rein
                                    Methinks I see thee, Jane
 
Was that a gleam of golden hair, flashing here, flashing there
Or just a dream caught unaware, a vision of the moonlight’s glare
Hush, don’t say a word, your eyesight’s overwrought
Maybe something really stirred, maybe so or maybe not
No one is planting flowers at the prowling time of night
But in these short dark hours, even memories can bite
 
CHORUS:                   What’s that form there in the dark?
                                    Just a pine tree in the park?
                                    O! Let me not be mad, insane
                                    Methinks I see thee, Jane
 
When I finally think it through, finally master my confusion
Naughty shadows bend askew, charging through my grand illusion
Who’s there, who goes, who’s going? My involuntary words
Was it just the winds soft blowing, or nocturnal flocks of birds?
Was it just the hesitation of a deer before it fled
Was it my imagination, or was Jane somewhere ahead?
 
CHORUS:                    A startled “hey,” a faint “goodbye,”
                                    Then away, away she’ll fly
                                    Words, words, mere words remain
                                    Methinks I see thee, Jane
 
High above the city streets, perched upon a window sill
Above the night-time city beats, sang a lonely whippoorwill
Heard it’s melancholy song, I know she heard it too
She’d been hidden all along, saw me and withdrew
Has her minutes, has her ways, always a survivor
Plays a part to make her plays, she knows what she’s alive for
 
CHORUS:                   To hide and seek or seek and hide
                                    Through windows sneak, through locks untried
                                    What light shines through, yon window pane?
                                    Methinks I see thee Jane
 
                                    Like a lady, like a child
                                    Always shady, always wild
                                    So foul and fair a day, deceives my brain
                                    Methinks I see thee Jane


Song by Mary James & Jean James