Javelin (Rough Trade Exclusive Edition) Album Lyrics by Sufjan Stevens

---

Goodnight Evergreen

Goodbye, Evergreen
You know I love you
But everything heaven-sent
Must burn out in the end
I promised you
Just as you were in my dream
Now let me off easy
And I'll slip down through the drain
To release my scattered brain
My enemy

Something just isn't right
I cut from the inside
I'm frightened of the end
I'm drowning in my self-defense
Now punish me
Think of me as what you will
I grow like a cancer
I'm pressed out in the rain
Deliver me from the poisoned pain

Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
You know I love
You know I love you
You know I love you

Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
You know I love
You know I love you
You know I love you

Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
You know I love
You know I love you
You know I love you

Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
You know I love
You know I love you
You know I love you

Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
Goodbye, Evergreen
You know I love you

You know I love you
You know I love you
You know I love

---

A Running Start

If I imagine myself peaceful on the fire escape
Head first, my hands inside my t-shirt, as we run away
So now we have a running start
My body moves in mystic ways
I cross my arms to shield my heart
As everything turns into waves

I see the light upon the lake
The silver moon, the water snake
A pair of eyes, a gentle breeze
Forgotten tales, a wild beast
I know, I know the time has come
To ask you for a kiss
Don't go, my lovely pantomime
Receive of me my only wish

If I align myself with Pisces in a funny way
Can you, my lover, kiss my bracelet
And my shoulder blades
We've always had a running start
I jump between the trampolines
You throw your arms around my heart
As if to say you're all I need

The winter pines, the lonely drake
The light beneath the frozen lake
A pair of eyes, a gentle breeze
Forgotten tales, a wild beast
I know, I know the time has come
To ask you for a kiss
Don't go, my lovely pantomime
Receive of me my only wish

---

Will Anybody Ever Love Me?

Chase away my heart and heartache
Run me over, throw me over, cast me out
Find a river running to the west wind
Just above the shoreline you will see a cloud

Tie me to a tiny wooden raft
Burn my body, point me to the undertow
Push me off into the void at last
Watch me drift and watch me struggle, let me go
'Cause I really wanna know

Will anybody ever love me? (Love me)
For good reasons, without grievance, not for sport
Will anybody ever love me? (Love me)
In every season, pledge allegiance to my heart
Pledge allegiance to my burning heart

Hello wildness, please forgive me now
For the heartache and the misery I create
Take my suffering as I take my vow
Wash me now, anoint me with that golden blade

Tie me to the final wooden stake
Burn my body, celebrate the afterglow (afterglow)
Wash away the summer sins I made
Watch me drift and watch me struggle, let me go (let me go)
'Cause I really wanna know

Will anybody ever love me? (Love me)
For good reasons, without grievance, not for sport (not for sport)
Will anybody ever love me? (Love me)
For every season, pledge allegiance to my heart (to my heart)
For every season, pledge allegiance to my heart (to my heart)

My burning heart, my burning heart, my burning heart
(Will anybody ever love me? Love me)
My burning heart
(Will anybody ever love me? Love me)
My burning heart
(Will anybody ever love me? Love me)
My burning heart

---

Everything That Rises

Can you lift me up to a higher place?
Forget everything that was before
Turn your face around like the salted sphere
Turn yourself around to see what once was there

Everything that rises must converge
Everything that rises in a word
Everything that rises must converge
Everything that rises

Jesus, lift me up to a higher plane
To a higher plane
Can you come around before I go insane?
Before I go insane?
Cast me not in hell where the demons rage
Where the demons rage
Turn yourself around to see what I can save
To see what I can save

Everything that rises must converge
Everything that rises in a word
Everything that rises must converge
Everything that rises

Turn yourself away from the wickedness, I said
Evil comes to play in the image of the dead

Everything rises, must converge
Everything rises in a word
Everything rises, must converge
Everything rises

Everything rises, everything rises
Everything rises, everything rises
Everything rises, everything rises

---

Genuflecting Ghost

Give myself as a sacrifice
Genuflecting ghost, I kiss the floor
Rise, my love, show me paradise
Nothing seems so simple anymore

Rest assured, words come easy
Insecure, love and please me
Sacred word, bind me, insult
As I praise your name

Now will we dance in our catastrophe
Ramparts in the sky that flash with horror
Let's take these chances, no more amnesty
Nothing else remains as once before

Rest assured, empires will fall
Insecure, restless and small
Sacred word, bind me, insult
As I praise your name

Give myself as a sacrifice
Genuflecting ghost, I kiss no more

---

My Red Little Fox

I drink 'til it's lost
Drinking words within
That spin down Pentecost
Kiss me with the fire of gods
Just say what you want
Say it out within
Without that funny little cough
Simple minded, simple talk

Don't start with your camouflage
Spurning from within, jump in
My red little fox
Rivers running through it all
So kiss me, as I am lost
Kiss me from within, jump in
My red little fox

Yellow paper folded off
My love, my queen
My broken dreams
Come save me

Kiss me like the wind
Now I sing it, won't you kiss me from within?
Now I sing it, won't you kiss me like the wind
That flows within your veins?

Let's not be for want
Wanting is a sin
I don't want anything at all

Yellow fever folded off
Let's drink 'til it's Pentecost
Drink unto the wind, jump in
My red little fox
Kiss me with the fire of gods
Let's scream 'til it's all forgot
Screaming words within that spin
Without any cost
Kiss me with the fire of gods

My love, my queen
My spoken dreams
Come save me

Kiss me like the wind
Now I sing it, won't you kiss me from within?
Now I sing it, won't you kiss me like the wind
That flows within your veins?

---

So You Are Tired

So you are tired of us
So rest your head
Turning back fourteen years
Of what I did and said

So you are breathing disaster
I did what I was told
But I was a man born invisible
Was it something I said or some kind of joke?

So you are tired as the sun
Are you with or without a friend?
Bring me back everything caught in your shield
Let everything else descend

So you are seething with laughter
Was it really all just a joke?
I was a man indivisible
When everything else was broke

So you are tired of even my kiss
So go back to your den
Throwing out everything left in your field
When there was nothing left to defend

So you are dreaming of after
Was it really all just for fun?
I was the man still in love with you
When I already knew it was done

So you are tired of me
So rest your head
Turning back all that we had in our life
While I return to death

---

Javelin (To Have and To Hold)

Searching through the snow
For the javelin, I had not meant to throw right at you
For if it had hit its mark
There'd be blood in the place where you stood

It's a terrible thought to have and hold
It's a terrible thought to have and hold

So here we stand in the dark
My eyes traveling to the spot where you'd thrown yourself over the rocks
For if you'd not been so fast
There'd be blood in the place where you stood

It's a terrible thought to have and hold
It's a terrible thought to have and hold
It's a terrible thought to have and hold

---

Shit Talk

No more fighting, no more talking shit
Do as I say, not as I give up
Not as I've failed to live
In the future, there will be a terrible cost
For all that we have left undone
Deliver me from everything I've put off
And all that we've lost
I will always love you
But I cannot live with you
I will always love you

No more fighting, I've nothing left to give
I've nothing but atrophy
Did I cross you? Did I fail to believe in positive thoughts?
Our romantic second chance is dead
I buried it with the hatchet
Quit your antics, put them at the foot of the bed
And set it on fire
I will always love you
But I cannot watch you

I will always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you

Hold me closely
Hold me tightly, lest I fall
Hold me closely
Hold me tightly, lest I fall
Hold me closely
Hold me tightly, lest I fall
Hold me closely
Hold me tightly, lest I fall, la la lala

Hold me closely
Hold me tightly, lest I fall
Hold me closely
Hold me tightly, lest I fall
Hold me closely (I will always love you)
Hold me tightly, lest I fall
Hold me closely (I will always love you)
Hold me tightly, lest I fall

No, I don't wanna fight at all
No, I don't wanna fight at all
No, I don't wanna fight at all
No, I don't wanna fight at all

No, I don't wanna fight at all
I don't wanna fight at all
No, I don't wanna fight at all
I don't wanna fight at all
No, I don't wanna fight at all (I don't wanna fight at all)
I don't wanna fight at all

No, I don't wanna fight at all (no, I don't wanna fight at all)
No, I don't wanna fight at all
No, I don't wanna fight at all (no, I don't wanna fight at all)
I don't wanna fight at all
No, I don't wanna fight at all
I don't wanna fight at all (I don't wanna fight at all)

I don't wanna fight at all (I will always love you)
I don't wanna fight at all
I will always love you
No, I don't wanna fight at all (I don't wanna fight at all)
I will always love you
No, I don't wanna fight at all (I don't wanna fight at all)
I will always love you
No, I don't wanna fight at all (I don't wanna fight at all)
I will always love you

---

There's a World

There's a world you're living in
No one else has your part
All God's children in the wind
Take it in and blow real hard

Look around it
Have you found it?
Walking down the avenue
See what it brings
Could be good things
In the air for me and you

We are leaving (we are leaving), we are gone (we are gone)
Come with us to all alone
Never worry (never worry), never moan (never moan)
We will leave you all alone

In the mountains (in the mountains), in the cities (in the cities)
You can see the righteous dream
Look around you (look around you), has it found you? (Has it found you?)
Is it what it really seems?

There's a world you're (there's a world you're) living in (living in)
No one else has your part
All God's children (all God's children) in the wind (in the wind)
Take it in and blow real hard

---

Malthusian Mistress

Oh, don't look at me
Is it anybody's business
What I believe?

Oh, I cannot love
Is it anybody's business
Where I get off?

Oh, forest fiery tree
The mahogany in misted
Foils what I grieve

Oh, horse run with me
Your Malthusian mistress
Pulls at my sleeve

---

Is It My Fault?

Yeah, I have fallen in love
People say "What do you care for it?"
Yeah, I have fallen in love
People say "What do you care for it?"

Is it my fault?
Is it my fault? Ooh-ooh-ooh
Is it my fault?
Is it my fault? Ooh-ooh-ooh

Set myself right up for disaster
People say I should prepare for it
Set myself right up for disaster
People say I should prepare for it

Is it my fault?
Is it my fault? Ooh-ooh-ooh
Is it my fault?
Is it my fault? Ooh-ooh-ooh

Played it out like Bonnie McCarroll
People say "Watch where you land boy"
Played it out like Bonnie McCarroll
People say "Love is a death wish"

Is it my fault?
Is it my fault? Ooh-ooh-ooh
Is it my fault?
Is it my fault? Ooh-ooh-ooh

---

Fireproof

Am I fireproof or am I on fire?
The two appear to be the same
Mount St. Helens made a fuss for a while
And she covered us in shame

As we make up
The dams will break up
Tommy Knockers come a-knocking
The Wonder Dog who
Needs no rescue
Little Bobbie went a-walking
And he wagged his tail

Am I waterproof or am I in deep waters?
Saw the island on the run
Am I bulletproof or am I in a crossfire?
Kipland Kinkel has a gun

I feel lucky
In my Nike
Jumper Jordans on the ocean
The waves may break out
The freighters shake up
But the Lord
He has a notion
On the Oregon trail

(That's right)
Am I fireproof or am I on fire?
(I don't really know)

---

Old Man of the Lake

We had our bikes
And wearing Spandex
Three of us, my brother and my cousin named Josh
At Crater Lake with California license plates
A Prius and an energy bar
In my fatigue, I turned the key
And drove the car like a frisbee on a methadone high
And just my luck, a Ranger in a pick-up truck
Appeared as the image of God

And I don't like to start a fight
The Ranger rolled with his hands on his gun
He gave us shit, and made us sit
On the curb with our back to the terminal sun

What price would I pay
To reverse my fate?
Old man of the lake
Have a laugh at us now
(Coo-Coo-Coo)

My brother said "don't give him trouble"
As he made a remark at the officer's back
The Ranger reached and swung his gun around
My brother went down like a domino pack

And like a dream the Ranger screamed
"Put your hands on your head
Keep them where I can see them"
He cuffed 'em off
And f*cked 'em up
With a laugh while we sat
With our hands on the curb

What wish could I call
From the witches cauldron?
Old man of the lake
Have a laugh at us now
(Coo-Coo-Coo)
(Coo-Coo-Coo)

Old man of the lake
Have a laugh at us now
(Coo-Coo-Coo)
(Coo-Coo-Coo)
Old man of the lake
Have a laugh at us now
(Coo-Coo-Coo)

---

The Kiss of Niobe

In the half-light, single-traffic light
Where Elizabeth composed herself
And having done the deed
She pointed at her sleeve
And pulled the trigger on the antonym

Release the demon Sylvian fraud tonight
I see you in my line of sight
Dressed in golden fleece
Please, don't let your children die tonight
Whatever is wrong or right
Let them sleep in peace

And where the rose converged
Wild foxes on the curb
Poison ivy, poison motherhood
How can I think of this?
The one paralysis
The kiss of Niobe persuaded it

And when our laureate left
She did it for the best
And raised her single wing with confidence
For if she stayed instead
With wildness on her head
She would've killed us without consequence

Release the demon Sylvian fraud tonight
I see you in my line of sight
Dressed in golden fleece
Please, don't let your children die tonight
Whatever is wrong or right
Let them sleep in ease