In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Part 1: Eruption
Part 2: Stones of Years
Has the dawn ever seen your eyes?
Have the days made you so unwise?
Realize, you are.
Had you talked to the winds of time,
Then you'd know how the waters rhyme,
Taste of wine,
How can you know where you've been?
In time, you'll see the sign
And realize your sin.
Will you know how the seed is sown?
All your time has been overgrown,
Never known.
Have you walked on the stones of years?
When you speak, is it you that hears?
Are your ears full?
You can't hear anything at all.
Part 3: Iconoclast
Part 4: Mass
The preacher said a prayer
save every single hair on his head
he's dead
The minister of hate
had just arrived too late to be spared
who cared
The weaver in the web that he made
The pilgrim wandered in
committing every sin that he could
so good
The cardinal of grief
was set in the belief he'd be saved
from the grave
The weaver in the web that he made
Part 5: Manticore
Part 6: Battlefield
Clear the battlefield and let me see
All the profit from our victory.
You talk of freedom, starving children fall.
Are you deaf when you hear the season's call?
Were you there to watch the earth be scorched?
Did you stand beside the spectral torch?
Know the leaves of sorrow turned their face,
Scattered on the ashes of disgrace.
Ev'ry blade is sharp; the arrows fly
Where the victims of your armies lie,
Where the blades of grass and arrows reign
Then there'd be no sorrow,
Be no pain.
Part 7: Aquatarkus
Part 2: Stones of Years
Has the dawn ever seen your eyes?
Have the days made you so unwise?
Realize, you are.
Had you talked to the winds of time,
Then you'd know how the waters rhyme,
Taste of wine,
How can you know where you've been?
In time, you'll see the sign
And realize your sin.
Will you know how the seed is sown?
All your time has been overgrown,
Never known.
Have you walked on the stones of years?
When you speak, is it you that hears?
Are your ears full?
You can't hear anything at all.
Part 3: Iconoclast
Part 4: Mass
The preacher said a prayer
save every single hair on his head
he's dead
The minister of hate
had just arrived too late to be spared
who cared
The weaver in the web that he made
The pilgrim wandered in
committing every sin that he could
so good
The cardinal of grief
was set in the belief he'd be saved
from the grave
The weaver in the web that he made
Part 5: Manticore
Part 6: Battlefield
Clear the battlefield and let me see
All the profit from our victory.
You talk of freedom, starving children fall.
Are you deaf when you hear the season's call?
Were you there to watch the earth be scorched?
Did you stand beside the spectral torch?
Know the leaves of sorrow turned their face,
Scattered on the ashes of disgrace.
Ev'ry blade is sharp; the arrows fly
Where the victims of your armies lie,
Where the blades of grass and arrows reign
Then there'd be no sorrow,
Be no pain.
Part 7: Aquatarkus
Lyrics submitted by thedanman344, edited by Undinal
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I think its "the cardinal of grief" not the "coroner." It fits much better with the theme of "Mass," where all of the other characters are religious (preacher, minister, pilgrim, high priest, bishop, choir).