Verse 1 Hephaestion, stay awake The lamps are getting low And all the men who love me Love the places I might go They love me in the saddle They love me in the dust They love the way the future Looks obedient to us But you knew me before thunder You knew me before names Before the rooms got careful Before the gods made claims You saw me miss the target You saw me lose the thread You saw me laugh at nothing Like a boy not yet half-dead Pre-Chorus So don’t bow now Don’t start tonight I can’t bear another friend Learning how to kneel right Chorus Hephaestion, stay awake They only love me when I blaze You know the boy inside the flame Don’t let them only keep the name Hephaestion, don’t be kind Tell me where I left my mind If I become the thing they praise Remind me of my face Verse 2 There are maps inside the morning There are drums beneath the floor There are men outside the canvas Asking me for one thing more And I can feel it happening The title and the theft Every time they say “immortal” There is less of me left You said, “Eat, you idiot” With the whole world at the gate And I loved you in that second For refusing to be fate Bridge If they make a god of me Make a liar of them all Say you saw me tired Say you watched me fall Say I wanted ordinary Say I wanted rest Say I was unbearable But human at my best Final Chorus Hephaestion, stay awake They only love me when I blaze You know the boy inside the flame Don’t let them only keep the name Hephaestion, don’t be kind Tell me where I left my mind If I become the thing they praise Remind me of my face Outro Hephaestion, stay awake The lamps are almost gone If I must become a story Let one person tell it wrong
