Song Meaning
Standing before a temple, the narrator admits to fearing their own ideas, passively waiting for a miracle to fix things. This initial posture is one of hopeful inertia, a belief that simply existing in a state of need might conjure a solution. The lyrics immediately push back against this, stating plainly that standing still won't heal anything if no action is taken. This sets up a core tension between passive hope and the necessity of active effort.
The recurring mention of September grounds the abstract feelings in a specific, almost cyclical, melancholy. The surreal imagery of a horse eating violins and the observation that few girls marry in September paint a picture of unusual stillness and perhaps missed opportunities. The narrator seems to associate this month with a peculiar, almost magical, yet unproductive atmosphere where things happen, but not necessarily positive ones.
The lyrics then shift to a sense of dwindling spiritual or perhaps communal support, with the narrator dreaming of saints and noting there are few left. This echoes the earlier theme of waiting for external intervention, but with a growing sense of isolation. The final lines introduce a past experience of being mocked or feared by 'fools,' who eventually tire of their own behavior. This suggests a dawning realization that external judgment, like the hoped-for miracle, is also temporary and ultimately self-defeating, hinting that the narrator's own passive waiting might also eventually lead to exhaustion, but not necessarily resolution.