Song Meaning
These lyrics open with a stark, unwavering declaration: "I have come to lie with you / I have come to die with you." It's an immediate plunge into ultimate devotion, but one shadowed by an inescapable finality. This isn't just love; it's a fated, almost tragic bond.
The scene quickly shifts to a fragile intimacy, resting "On your padded shoulder and your golden chest." Yet, this comfort is set against a disquieting backdrop: "In a wilderness of glass we rest." This striking image suggests a place both vast and dangerously delicate, where peace is precarious. The speaker's "chances follow dances" into an implied "storm afraid," painting a picture of graceful, yet inevitable, movement towards peril.
Communication itself feels ephemeral, as "all the flowers they are our words." This suggests a delicate, transient form of expression, perhaps easily crushed or misunderstood. The sudden, repeated observation, "A sweet and bitter rest he gets," introduces a fascinating shift. This third-person perspective could be the speaker observing their own fated situation from a distance, or a universal truth about such profound, yet sorrowful, commitments. It encapsulates the core paradox: comfort intertwined with an undeniable ache.
The power of these lyrics lies in their ability to hold contradictory emotions in perfect balance.