Song Meaning
These lyrics open with a vivid depiction of love as an organic, persistent force. It's a love that "grows in nights," never fading, and seems to restore "all that was lost from the heart" within the beloved. This initial vision paints a picture of a profound, holistic connection, encompassing both spirit and body.
Yet, a sharp turn quickly introduces a poignant contradiction: "This is how we were meant to love, this is how we will not love." The lyrics suggest this inability stems from "what was and has already passed," hinting at past experiences or losses that prevent the speaker from realizing this ideal. It's a powerful statement of unfulfilled potential, a recognition that the perfect love described remains just out of reach.
The final stanza then confines this ideal connection to the realm of the subconscious. The narrator appears to suggest that "we will love only in a dream / or only in a shadow that dreams." This imagery transforms the ideal love from a tangible experience into an ethereal yearning, a persistent echo in the mind. The repetition of "dream" emphasizes this shift, creating a hazy, almost melancholic landscape where true love can only reside.
Ultimately, these lyrics resonate because they articulate a bittersweet truth: the human capacity to imagine and yearn for a perfect love, even when circumstances dictate it can only exist in the mind's eye. The journey from an aspirational ideal to its confinement within a dream captures the profound emotional weight of longing for what might have been, or what can only ever be imagined.
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