Soft cheek upon the sill,
soft light of morning
We await your arrival
See to your survival
See it spread below you there,
the settlement/sediment of Rovenshere.
Wild strawberries grow
among the herds of buffalo–
enough to go around and around.
Our love is in the very ground
and suspended in the air
o’er the land of Rovenshere.

There is something I wanna show you.
There is something bothering me.
Will you walk me home, honey?
There is something I want you to see.

Some other gravid pelagical magic pulls
at the gulls, flashing, rolls of the wings/underwings. We/they wheel away
in flockly steadiness, exodus to the east in Vs offset,
making glyphs, snaking like the hissing edge of a wave

There’s an ocean over there, honey.
I believe they’re going to that sea.
Smell it in the air, honey.
Do you wanna find it with me?

Depot agent, switch man, track man, dispatcher, bridge tender, rodman, hustler, waiter, plate layer–

Lately I’ve been listening–
Tell you this, I know where they’re going
Rolling in the distance
I hear the pistons and whistle a’blowing

Overhead the smudge heavily rises,
scud spreads and disguises with grease and coal

The flockly steadiness like
tossed confetti drifts
across the continents
Evidence of the geese and the gulls

I mean to be of service to you,
Chaperone a lonesome frontier (?)
How do you do?
I’ll welcome you to the border, my dear.

Porter, pointsman, boilerman, gandy dancer, flagman, brakeman, yardmaster, steward, signal man–

I plan to be there at the station,
Once you’re safely boarded, my dear, it’s a
Separate conversation
You go on and I will stay here
By my side, the love of mine stands
Golden spike in his hands hammering time into place

I see your faces against the glass
Angels and acrobats are dancing at the gates–

All aboard! All aboard that train!
All aboard! All aboard that train!
All aboard! All aboard that train!
All aboard the train.

Lay the beds and lower the blinds,
bear my heart into the night
Ain’t it heavy? Ain’t it light?
What we carry for our time is yours and mine,
And we are gone in the blink of an eye.
The shore, it shines at the end of the line.

All aboard! All aboard that train!
All aboard! All aboard that train!
All aboard! All aboard that train!
All aboard the train.

I believe you’ll be alright,
At the depot, we hold tight
Where you scale the mountainside
And prevail. We abide.

And we will wait, we will ride!
But who will raise the hue and cry
for what was taken in the night:

Aching bones and failing sight
went sailing by in the blink of an eye
The rails, the ties, and the vacant sky,
“Arise and awaken!” cries the brakeman.

Soft cheek upon the sill,
brakes squeak high and shrill–
wake you up in wonderment.
See the change you underwent.

Disembark and listen well
to the boardwalk and the carousel,
In the cool green avenues
where they’re playing horseshoes

Hear the unaccountable (uncanny?)
Crowd of birds surmount the shore,
landing with a caterwaul
At the end of all their tour/toil(?)

It is theirs and yours my dear,
farewell to the engineer
Wish I could see you there
in the land of Rovenshere.

[Spoken word:]
Well I hope you listen very carefully children,
because there’s not a star in the sky you can follow to get there.
There’s no means of navigation.
You have to convene at the station, and get a ticket, be patient.
Seems strange, but it’s not so different that you can’t find your way there,
or breathe the air, or that you don’t want to stay there.
And though you may by mistake be waylaid,
find a seat on the great machine, full steam, 42 tons, and Lord!
Hear it run through the buffalo grass,
huffing like lungs along the tracks that shine in the sun
like a line of honey slowly poured, shining like a silken cord,
wandering through the hills and wood of Rovenshere at last,
where the waves crash on the shore
and bask in the light of the Lord(?), way-down in the wide/white(?) gorge,
where the tide roars and the white gulls arrive,
soar and dive, score the sky like lowering knives,
performing the rites of Rovenshere at last.
In the past, I was there. It was allowed of me.
And so that you may know just a little bit about me, I’ll tell you:
I have seen the white clouds fleeing their own shadows to the sea, scattering beams.
I have gathered sweet apples cast from the trees,
and cherries, plums, tangerines; heard the trunks creak in the breeze,
heard the drunk bees knocking petals from the lemon trees,
and the meadow-peas, and the nettle and anemones.
And all lock arms, laugh and spill pell-mell down the hill to–
well, you know where.
But I took the stairs.
And in the village square we’d hear the ringing of the dinner bell
and all would know that all is well,
announcing with a gallant sound all are accounted for and found.
For you see, no calamity befalls your friends or family at all in Rovenshere.
Well, that’s the hope. That’s the prayer.
It’s not utopia, it’s not heaven— though it may as well be—
It’s just a time and a place that I’ll never see,
but don’t you worry about me!
With my feet up on my rock candy chimney and my gingerbread pied-à-terre,
up there on the coastline in a home of my own Ma and Pa’s design.
Do you see? I do for you what they did for me.
And you can do for yours in due course.
And if it’s just a story– that don’t make it any less true.
Oh well, if it’s a song does that make it any less true?
Well, I suggest you tell that to the company and crew of the Rovenshere Express
and then go collect your personal effects,
head on back West.
Or you could stay, and I hope you do.
And that’s how you get there anyway–

Choo choo!

Notes

Played for the first time at Joanna Newsom's Masonic Lodge concert on May 18th, 2024. Lyrics are the community's best guess until an official recording comes out.