Two Legends

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a stark, visceral portrait of pervasive darkness, not just as an absence of light but as an active, consuming force. The opening section enumerates bodily organs and functions—eye, tongue, heart, lungs, blood, bowels, muscles, nerves, brain—all described as "black." This relentless cataloging creates a sense of total engulfment, suggesting an internal state where even the capacity for perception and action is suffocated. The inability to "suck in light" and the "tombed visions" emphasize a profound, inescapable imprisonment within this blackness, a state where even the soul's cry is a "huge stammer" that cannot "pronounce its sun." The second section shifts to images from the natural world, continuing the theme of blackness but introducing a subtle tension. The "wet otter's head, lifted," the "rock, plunging in foam," and "gall lying on the bed of the blood" all carry a primal, almost violent energy. Even the "earth-globe, one inch under," becomes an "egg of blackness." This imagery suggests that darkness is not merely a passive void but a potent, generative force, a fertile ground from which something new might emerge, however ominous. The poem culminates in the hatching of a "crow," a "black rainbow / Bent in emptiness / over emptiness." This striking image offers a complex resolution. The crow, traditionally a creature of darkness, and the black rainbow, an oxymoron, suggest that even within absolute blackness, a form of existence or even beauty can manifest. The final, defiant declaration, "But flying," asserts a persistent, albeit dark, vitality against the overwhelming emptiness, hinting at a resilience born from the very heart of darkness.