Emily

(album: Ys - 2006)

The meadowlark and the chim-choo-ree and the sparrow
Set to the sky in a flying spree, for the sport of the pharaoh
Little while later, the Pharisees dragged a 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
Into the bones of the birches, and the spires of the churches, jutting out from the shadow
And 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 nighttime, 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 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

You came and lay a cold compress upon the mess I'm in
Threw the windows wide, and cried amen amen amen
The whole world stopped to hear you hollering
And you looked down, and saw, now, what was happening

The lines are fading in my kingdom
Though I have never known the way to border them 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 buttes lit by a flare
I've seen your bravery, and I will follow you there

And row through the nighttime so healthy
Gone healthy all of a sudden
In search of a midwife who can help me
Who can help me
Help me find my way back in
And there are worries where I've been

And 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 knew 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 their brow
And everything with wings is restless, aimless, drunk, and dour
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
Staring 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 and 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 is 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"