Emily Lyrics - Ys - 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 

So 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 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-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