The Relique

Song Meaning

The narrator imagines their grave being disturbed, a place once meant for a private reunion now potentially a public spectacle. The lyrics immediately establish a tone of wry, almost defiant humor, particularly in the parenthetical aside about graves learning a 'woman head' can serve multiple purposes. This sets up a tension between the intimate memory of love and the potential for its desecration or commodification by future discoverers. The narrator seems to anticipate a future where their remains, specifically a 'bracelet of bright hair about the bone,' might be misinterpreted or exploited. The central conflict arises from the contrast between the lovers' private devotion and the public, potentially exploitative, reception of their remains. If discovered in an era of 'mis-devotion,' their grave could be turned into a shrine, making them 'relics' for adoration. The narrator sarcastically imagines being canonized, with their lover becoming 'a Mary Magdalen,' while they are 'something else.' This highlights a fear that their genuine affection will be misunderstood and transformed into a spectacle, a 'miracle' manufactured for the age. The most striking craft element is the narrator's sophisticated use of irony and speculative framing. They don't just lament; they actively construct hypothetical scenarios, from the mundane 'second guest' to the religious fervor of 'mis-devotion.' The shift in the final stanza is particularly powerful. The narrator begins to list their 'miracles' – a pure, almost angelic love devoid of conventional physical or sexual boundaries ('Difference of sex no more we knew / Than our guardian angels do'). This redefines love itself as the miracle, only to cut short the description of their lover, concluding that she herself was the ultimate, ineffable miracle, a testament to a love that defies even the language used to describe it.