Emily - Joanna Newsom

The meadowlark and the chim-choo-ree and the sparrow 
Set to the sky in a flying spree, for the sport over the pharaoh 
A little while later the Pharisees dragged comb through the meadow 
Do you remember what they called up to you and me, in our window? 

There is a rusty light on the pines tonight 
Sun pouring wine, lord, or marrow 
Down into the bones of the birches 
And the spires of the churches 
Jutting out from the shadows 
The yoke, and the axe, and the old smokestacks and the bale and the barrow 
And everything sloped like it was dragged from a rope 
In the mouth of the south below 

We've seen those mountains kneeling, felten and grey 
We thought our very hearts would up and melt away 
From that snow in the night time 
Just going 
And going 
And the stirring of wind chimes 
In the morning 
In the morning 
Helps me find my way back in 
From the place where I have been 

And, Emily - I saw you last night by the river 
I dreamed you were skipping little stones across the surface of the water 
Frowning at the angle where they were lost, and slipped under forever, 
In a mud-cloud, mica-spangled, like the sky'd been breathing on a mirror 

Anyhow - I sat by your side, by the water 
You taught me the names of the stars overhead that I wrote down in my ledger 
Though all I knew of the rote universe were those pleiades loosed in december 
I promised you I'd set them to verse so I'd always remember 

That the meteorite is a source of the light 
And the meteor's just what we see 
And the meteoroid is a stone that's devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee 

And the meteorite's just what causes the light 
And the meteor's how it's perceived 
And the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee 

You came and lay a cold compress upon the mess I'm in 
Threw the window wide and cried; Amen! Amen! Amen! 
The whole world - stopped - to hear you hollering 
You looked down and saw now what was happening 

The lines are fadin' in my kingdom 
Though I have never known the way to border 'em in 
So the muddy mouths of baboons and sows and the grouse and the horse and the hen 
Grope at the gate of the looming lake that was once a tidy pen 
And the mail is late and the great estates are not lit from within 
The talk in town's becoming downright sickening 

In due time we will see the far butte lit by a flare 
I've seen your bravery, and I will follow you there 
And row through the night time 
Gone healthy 
Gone healthy all of a sudden 
In search of the midwife 
Who could help me 
Who could help me 
Help me find my way back in 
There are worries where I've been 

Say, say, say in the lee of the bay; don't be bothered 
Leave your troubles here where the tugboats shear the water from the water 
Flanked by furrows, curling back, like a match held up to a newspaper 
Emily, they'll follow your lead by the letter 
And I make this claim, and I'm not ashamed to say I know you better 
What they've seen is just a beam of your sun that banishes winter 

Let us go! Though we know it's a hopeless endeavor 
The ties that bind, they are barbed and spined and hold us close forever 
Though there is nothing would help me come to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawning 
There is a song I woke with on my lips as you sailed your great ship towards the morning 

Come on home, the poppies are all grown knee-deep by now 
Blossoms all have fallen, and the pollen ruins the plow 
Peonies nod in the breeze and while they wetly bow, with 
Hydrocephalitic listlessness ants mop up-a their brow 

And everything with wings is restless, aimless, drunk and dour 
The butterflies and birds collide at hot, ungodly hours 
And my clay-colored motherlessness rangily reclines 
Come on home, now! All my bones are dolorous with vines 

Pa pointed out to me, for the hundredth time tonight 
The way the ladle leads to a dirt-red bullet of light 
Squint skyward and listen - 
Loving him, we move within his borders: 
Just asterisms in the stars' set order 

We could stand for a century 
Starin' 
With our heads cocked 
In the broad daylight at this thing 
Joy 
Landlocked 
In bodies that don't keep 
Dumbstruck with the sweetness of being 
Till we don't be 
Told; take this 
Eat this 

Told, the meteorite is the source of the light 
And the meteor's just what we see 
And the meteoroid is a stone that's devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee 

And the meteorite's just what causes the light 
And the meteor's how it's perceived 
And the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee