Sufjan Stevens

A summer night
I find a boat
Tied to a tree
A normal home

She lost her string
I'm stepping in
I push the shore there
An act of stealth

A troubled glad without a voice
A mountain song, the boat moves on
The water runs on either side
The circle swell, a sudden light

Takes me

I fix my view
Upon the ridge
Horizon's eye
Above the gray sky

I tip my oar to raise the stroke
The wading swan, the image broke
A looming peak, a pirate size
Uprears its head, a sudden guise

Takes me

If you seek a pillow for your head
Or a fitted sheet for Christmas bed
If you see your shadow on the snow
Is it from the baby Jesus glow?
He's going to the country

Find a tree and put in your house
Put a mistletoe upon your mother's blouse
If you see a woman dressed in black
Give her up a song and then ask for it back
We're going to the country
We're going to the country
You're mom's going to the country
We're going to the country
The country

So faithful, so few
So pardon and done
And when we receive
We give a change at last

And when we are dead, we all have wings
We won't need legs to stand
And when we receive
To see a change at last

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we travel afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder star

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect Light

Glorious now behold Him arise
King and God and Sacrifice
Alleluia, Alleluia
Earth to heav'n replies

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy perfect light

We are a servant, we have a song
The side of a beehive, a tabernacle choir
We are the sound working in wars
The bishop is gone to the acolyte shores

We save our Bibles, we pull our sleeves
The word is a guard and the guard is a cleave
We are the right, we are the stay
The accolade's gone, we are what you say

We have no language, we have no chore
The side of a beehive, the bride is a whore
We are a spite, we are at bay
The spirit is life, we are what you say

We have a sermon, we have a song
The bishop is easy, the bishop is wrong
The spirit is right, the spirit will say
We are a light, we are what you say

I always knew you
In your mothers arms
I have called your name
I've an idea
Placed in your mind
To be a better man
I've made a crown for you
Put it in your room
And when the bride groom comes
There will be noise
There will be glad
And a perfect bed

And when you write a poem
I know the words, I know the sounds
Before you write it down
When you wear your clothes
I wear them too, I wear your shoes
And the jacket too
I always knew you
In your mothers arms
I have called you son
I've made amends
Between father and son
Or if you haven't one

Rest in my arms
Sleep in my bed
There's a design
To what I did and said

I'd swim across Lake Michigan
I'd sell my shoes
I'd give my body to be back again
In the rest of the room

To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you

You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and a family
You gave your ghost

To be alone with me
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
And went up on a tree

To be alone with me and went up on the tree
I've never known a man who loved me

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Can you call the Captain Clitus?
Logan, Grant, and Ronald Reagan
In the grave with Xylophagan
Do you know the ghost community?
Sound the horn, address the city

(Who will save it? Dedicate it?
Who will praise it? Commemorate it for you?)

We are awakened with the axe
Night of the Living Dead at last
They have begun to shake the dirt
Wiping their shoulders from the earth
I know, I know the nations past
I know, I know they rust at last
They tremble with the nervous thought
Of having been, at last, forgot

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Can you call the Captain Clitus?
B-U-D-A! Caledonia!
S-E-C-O-R! Magnolia!
B-I-R-D-S! And Kankakee!
Evansville and Parker City

Speaking their names, they shake the flag
Waking the earth, it lifts and lags
We see a thousand rooms to rest
Helping us taste the bite of death
I know, I know my time has passed
I'm not so young, I'm not so fast
I tremble with the nervous thought
Of having been, at last, forgot

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Can you call the Captain Clitus?
Comer and Potato Peelers!
G-R-E-E-N Ridge! Reeders
M-C-V-E-Y! And Horace!
E-N-O-S! Start the chorus

Corn and farms and tombs in Lemmon
Sailor Springs and all things feminine
Centerville and Old Metropolis
Shawneetown, you trade and topple us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Hold your tongue and don't divide us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Land of God, you hold and guide us

If you happen to be educated
Time it marches on,
oh time it marches on.
In the end there is a sacred show
delivers every song,
delivers every song.

Mourning steps and
mourning gallivants
And mourning never shows,
no mourning never slows.
If the avatar reminds that it
will never stand at all,
will never stand as tall.

Since the water made it,
most to sail it,
made it most to song,
it made it most to song.
For the politics are not political
for what they stand,
For not what they demand.
Every senator and diplomat
combines her certain part,
A matter for the heart.
Save yourself from recognition.
selfless and quite song
To better get along.

(We love you. We Chose to.
We made to. We love you.)

If we concentrate and pull
resources to the highest poll,
To beat the highest pull, too.
Ever will we conquer grief
and find it faster to resolve
the dead, to be absolved
and fed, to restore.
If the advantageous
reprimand misgivings,
We won't grow.
We will not ever know.
We will not!
(Lift my life in healthy places!)

I live in America with a pair of Payless shoes
The Upper Peninsula and the television news
I've seen my wife at the K-Mart
In strange ideas we live apart

I live in a trailer home with a snowmobile, my car
The window is broken out and the interstate is far
I drove all night to find my child
In strange ideas he's been revived

In strange ideas, in stranger times
I've no idea what's right sometimes
I lost my mind, I lost my life
I lost my job, I lost my wife

When he took the three disciples to the mountainside to pray
His countenance was modified, his clothing was aflame
Two men appeared, Moses and Elijah came
They were at his side
The prophecy, the legislation spoke
Of whenever he would die

Then there came a word of what he should accomplish on the day
Then Peter spoke, to make of them a tabernacle place
A cloud appeared in glory as an accolade
They fell on the ground
A voice arrived, the voice of God
The face of God covered in a cloud

What he said to them, the voice of God, the most beloved son
Consider what he says to you, consider what's to come
The prophecy was put to death, was put to death
And so will the son
And keep your word, disguise the vision
Till the time has come

Lost in the cloud, a voice
Have no fear, we draw near
Lost in the cloud, a sign
Son of man, turn your ear

Lost in the cloud, a voice
Lamb of God, we draw near
Lost in the cloud, a sign
Son of man, son of God

Lost in the cloud, a voice
Have no fear, we draw near
Lost in the cloud, a sign
Son of man, turn your ear

Lost in the cloud, a voice
Lamb of God, we draw near
Lost in the cloud, a sign
Son of man, son of God

Lost in the cloud, a voice
Have no fear, we draw near
Lost in the cloud, a sign
Son of man, turn your ear

Lost in the cloud, a voice
Lamb of God, we draw near
Lost in the cloud, a sign
Son of man, son of God

Part I: "The Great Frontier"

I count the days the Great Frontier
Forgiving, faced the seventh year
I stand in awe of gratefulness
I can and call forgetfulness

And when I, and when I call
The Patient, the Patient fall
The Spirit, the Carpenter
Invites us to be with her

What have we become America?
Soldiers on the Great Frontier!
Carpenter and Soldier, one on one
It's the battle, volunteer!

Run from yourself, from your friends, from ya--
Run for your life, for your friends, for ya--
American, merica, meri--
Oh Illinois, Illinois, Illi--

The prairie, the frontier, the perfect farm, it's from here
The fortress, the faker, the cornerstone, the baker
The dancer, the fisher, audition and the disher
The boxer, the fetcher, the ghweing gum, dream catcher

I count the days the Great Frontier
Forgiving, faced the seventh year
I stand and strain to make ends meet
Five Spirits on the Grand Marquee

And when I, and when I call
The Patient, the Patient fall
The Spirit, the Carpenter
Invites us to be with her

There was a man at the wall
He was grateful for us all
I saw the Wise Woman sing
She wasn't asking anything
She wasn't asking anything
How she made the nations sing!

What have we become America?
Soldiers on the Great Frontier!

Run from yourself,
from your friends, from ya--
Run for your life,
for your friends, for ya--
American, merica, meri--
Oh Illinois, Illinois, Illi--

The mattress, the floozies, the actress at the movies
The lantern, the lotion, the wind that wakes the ocean
The Standard Edition, the architect's rendition
The fashion, the fevers, the house we got at Sears

Part II: "Come to Me Only With Playthings Now"

Oh Great Fire of Great Disaster
Oh Great Heaven, oh Great Master
Oh Great Goat, the curse you gave us
Oh Great Ghost, protect and save us
Oh Great River, green with envy
Oh Jane Addams, spirit send thee
Oh Great Trumpet and the singers
(Given what you lost are you better off?)
Oh Great Goodman, King of Swingers
(Given what you had, has it made you mad?)
Oh Great Bears and Bulls, Joe Jackson
(Celebrate the few. Celebrate the new.)
Oh Great Illinois
(It can only start with you)

In the tower above the earth,
There is a view that reaches far
Where we see the universe,
I see the fire, I see the end.

Seven miles above the earth,
There is Emmanuel of mothers.
With his sword, with his robe,
He comes dividing man from brothers.

In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel.
In the powers of the earth, we wait until it rips and rips.
In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel.
Oh my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loved and bathed us.

Still I go to the deepest grave,
Where I go to sleep alone

Thinking outrageously I write in cursive
I hide in my bed with the lights on the floor
Wearing three layers of coats and leg warmers
I see my own breath on the face of the door

Oh I am not quite sleeping
Oh I am fast in bed
There on the wall in the bedroom creeping
I see a wasp with her wings outstretched

North of Savanna we swim in the palisades
I come out wearing my brother's red hat
There on his shoulder my best friend is bit seven times
He runs washing his face in his hands

Oh how I meant to tease him
Oh how I meant no harm
Touching his back with my hand I kiss him
I see the wasp on the length of my arm

Oh great sights upon this state, Hallelujah
Wonders bright and rivers, lake, Hallelujah
Trail of Tears and Horseshoe Lake, Hallelujah
Trusting things beyond mistake, Hallelujah

We were in love
We were in love
Palisades, Palisades
I can wait, I can wait

Lamb of God, we sound the horn, Hallelujah
To us your ghost is born, Hallelujah

I can't explain the state that I'm in
The state of my heart, he was my best friend
Into the car from the back seat
Oh admiration in falling asleep

All of my powers, day after day
I can tell you, we swaggered and swayed
Deep in the tower, the prairies below
I can tell you, the telling gets old

Terrible sting and terrible storm
I can tell you the day we were born
My friend is gone, he ran away
I can tell you, I love him each day

Though we have sparred, wrestled and raged
I can tell you I love him each day
Terrible sting, terrible storm
I can tell you

All things past in the pick-up
Found my brother's badge
Abraham is live and well in the pick-up
And his wife casts no more spells
In the pick-up

Found myself in the pick-up
Seatbelt on my lap
And my sister with her braids
In the pick-up
Kissed my mother on the face
In the pick-up
Clapping with the human race
In the pick-up

Cave the Cadmus country soon
Europa's sake he drew
Till the oracle said wander

Safe libation water slew
A serpent near him knew
The dragon's teeth he threw
Till the oracle said wander

And the winter moves about Illinois
When my sister picks a fight
With the Alexander boy
And my father locks the car by the store
Still we figure out the keys
And follow him once more
Oh my God, we see it on the floor
The woman on the bed
The ankle brace she wore
Stones and sled
It could have been some other
The mind that knows itself
Has a mind to serve the other
But we run back, scratching at the door
Scratching at the door

If I'm hiding in the sleeves of my coat
When my father runs undressed
He's pointing at my throat
And my brother has fit in the snow
And the traffic stops for miles
We take him by the elbow
Oh my God, the shuffling and the floor
A mind that knows itself
Is a mind that knows much more
So we run back, scrambling for cover
The mind that knows itself
Has a mind to kill the other
(Oh my God, no one came to our side
To carry us away from danger)

Oh my God
He left us now for dead
He left us now for dead

Trouble falls in my home
Troubled man, troubled stone
turn a mountain of lies
turn a card for my life
Man of Steel, Man of Heart
Tame our ways, if we start
To devise something more
Something half ways

Only a steel man came to recover
If he had run from gold, carry over
We celebrate our sense of each other
We have a lot to give one another

I took a bus to the lake
Saw the monument face
Yellow tides, golden eyes
Red and white, red and wise
Raise the flag, summer home
Parted hair, part unknown
If I knew what I read
I'll send it half ways

Only a real man can be a lover
If he had hands to lend us all over
We celebrate our sense of each other
We have a lot to give one another

Took my bags, Illinois
Dreamt the lake took my boy
Man of Steel, Man of Heart
Turn your ear to my part
There are things you have said
Raise the boat, and raise the dead
If you take us away
Still we can say:

Only a steel man can be a lover
If he had hands to tremble all over
We celebrate our sense of each other
We have a lot to give one another

Only a steel man can be a lover
If he had hands to tremble all over
We celebrate our sense of each other
We have a lot to give one another