Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of a cyclical journey through different emotional states, marked by a quest for meaning and a subsequent sense of loss and liberation. The opening stanza introduces a figure who ventures out, seeking words to articulate a past love, only to find that both the loved one and the self are now absent. This sets a tone of searching and emptiness, where actions taken to understand oneself are immediately rendered moot by the departure of what was cherished. This searching gives way to a more internal, combative experience in the second verse, described as going "to war every morning." Here, the narrator acknowledges being lost but finds a new direction by holding onto spoken or read words from a loved one. The declaration of loving "durably" contrasts sharply with the finality of "dead and gone," leading to a powerful assertion of freedom, suggesting that the end of a relationship, however painful, can also be a release. The third stanza shifts to a deliberate withdrawal, "sleep for the daytime" and shutting out the world. This is a retreat from external stimuli, symbolized by the "bruise and drip decay of childish toys." The narrator's love for these things is now "arguably" valid, implying a questioning of past affections, and the "labouring gone to seed" suggests that efforts and growth have ultimately failed to yield fruit, reinforcing a sense of disillusionment. The final verse revisits a shared, idyllic past, a moment of "feeling" and "breathlessness" on the beach as the sun rises. This memory, loved "endlessly," stands in stark contrast to the preceding verses of loss and withdrawal. The collective "we" suggests a shared experience of this fleeting joy, making its eventual passing, implied by the context of the song's overall narrative, all the more poignant and highlighting the ephemeral nature of happiness.