Neptune

Is this a song about Neptune mourning the loss of Pluto from the official list of planets? and Neptune wanting to abandon the solar system? This seems like a stretch but I can't get the thought out of my head.

"What’s right And what’s wrong?" --Neptune's reality is shattered by the possibility of losing his friend Pluto as a fellow planet

"Two wor(l)ds as I’ve rounded them off To the nearest of ten" --Counting pluto and the sun there are 10 celestial bodies in the solar system. But this song only concerns two of them

"For I gathered your body" --Neptune is mourning the loss of his closest friend, Pluto.

"Some great white rose Of youth, your pleasure" --Referring to Pluto, which is sort of like a ball of ice, as a white rose. It was also discovered relatively recently (1930) and could be considered youthful?

"Gives of my own heart Generous portions, wisely Breaks of my own heart" --Neptune considered Pluto to be a kindred spirit

"While I’ve gone on my own way" --Neptune is alone now

"Conserve me, strange waters Come and obey me, strange waters Have it your own way" --a clear reference to Poseidon/Neptune god of the sea. Neptune attempts to look inward for strength, trying to take solace in his own domain. He fails however and basically says "screw it, have it your way"

"So oh if you won’t hold me I have no objections So oh if you won’t please me I make no commands So oh if you don’t trust me It’s best if I drown" --Neptune basically says he would rather die than be here alone without his departed friend, Pluto.

I like pwnttothemax's interpretation but I feel like the song is drawing more on the theory that Pluto was once a moon of Neptune but escaped it's pull a long while ago and now it is on it's own.

Building on what pwnttothemax suggested I think the "great white rose" reference is definitely spot on. However, the line "i've gathered your body" and the rest of the stanza i think is talking about how Neptune's gravity formed Pluto initially then the "have it your own way" line and the last stanza refer to how Pluto 'escaped' Neptune's pull. The "two worlds" stanza could also reference Pluto and Triton since the two are so similar but since Neptune has 14 moons that might be a stretch.

I still agree that it's a song of mourning though.

This song is definitely about someone falling in love with someone much younger, shamefully younger, but someone old enough to feel sexual feelings for... The speaker initially thinks "what's right and what's wrong?" in terms of, is me falling for this person a morally bankrupt thing to do? What does it say about me, he's essentially asking. He probably tries to push this person away but saying, yes my words are serious. go away. don't take that likely. He ruminates on how he has objectified their young, perhaps virginal body.

Once their young person is gone, the speaker mourns them, but justifies why they pushed them away but thinks its for the best.

"Oh forgive me, oh gods Or forgive me in fortune Forgive me in feeling it out for myself As I ought to have feelings for something As great as thou art"

He's admitting to his higher power that he felt lust for this feeling, but insisted it was something his soul needed to work through. He asks for forgiveness that he should have impure thoughts about this person, and tells himself he is not good enough for the object of his affection either because of age or the things he's done in his past.

The reason I believe this person is young and virginal is the line about the youthful white rose, so beautiful but so guilty to behold. He said at one point, he indulged this person ad gave them gifts of his (wiser) heart, but felt himself pushing the younger person away slowly, because in his mind he is not worthy, or even mad at himself for corruption.

He deals with the power struggle of the relationship. He says all at once, "obey me", but also "go your own way". There is deep conflicting, something incomplete within him.

Eventually he says, I will have no objection to you walking away, because this relationship hurts both of us.

beautiful song packed with meaning, and of a subject matter that Sufjan often writes about I think...