AFI – No Poetic Device

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I've been dreaming.
I was lucid.
I was dreaming blood was seeping from my pores.
Who'd believe that it was all my own decision?
Cracked faces and medicated smiles.
Set fire to my home before I turned and walked back in.
For even needle open my chest and insert ten pins.
I just anticipate what awaits when I awake... break.
I die in my daydreams.
The gardens have all been overgrown.
I pushed my hand through the thorns to crush the final rose.
A deadly secret only I suffer to know.
I can't eradicate what awaits when I awake... break.
I die in my day dreams.


Lyrics submitted by oofus

No Poetic Device song meanings
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26 Comments

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  • +1
    General Commentdid any one else think the part about blood seeping from pores was a refrence to the masque of the red death by edger allen poe
    hibobon March 15, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Commentsaying that this song is about depression is a little vague, don't you think? this song is about a destructive decision that was made... consequently destroying a dream he had for the future:
    "Set fire to my home before I turned and walked back in."

    yall are focusing too much on the gory diction used... he may not be specifically referring to self mutilation here; ever hear of a thing called imagery?
    yellieeon December 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Commenti'm not exactly sure what this song is about, but i think it's about people who try to hide their feelings (depression) through the use of drugs and such, and how it just hurts the person and doesn't make anything better. at any rate, this song kicks ass.
    blogspotsuckson May 27, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General CommentIM probably wrong but i interpret this song as about JEsus CHrist. Lucid meaning spread with light, able to see. Blood sept through Jesus's poors in teh garden, and we know that it was his decison. THe medicated smiles of the people he healed. THis is what i get from the song.
    quarterminorityon July 19, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI'm not quite sure what this sond is about, although it seems to me that it is about inflicting self-injury, from the lines "Set fire to my home before I turned and walked back in. For even needle open my chest and insert ten pins." "I pushed my hand through the thorns to crush the final rose." "I was dreaming blood was seeping from my pores. Who'd believe that it was all my own decision?" I'm sure it's probably deeper than that, but that's the best I can do.
    Madcappunkon August 15, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI agree with quarterminority about the Jesus theme of the song at the part with "blood seeping through my pores" but the rest sounds like a drug binge of depression. maybe he mixed the two themes.
    Malleuson August 15, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI doubt it's about Jesus, but I don't know. The only way I doubt this is because of the song "The prayer Position" if he basically denounces religion, why would the next song be about Jesus Christ?
    It doesn't exactly make sense to me, but, I guess on Davey know what they're about.
    Davegetaon August 24, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Commentwho am i to interpret this piece? but i shall give my say, and then disappear. the meaning, to me, is so clear -cut- , but i only present opinion. the illustrative language presents images of the arms of "cutters" or "self-mutilators" ((or in my eyes, "body artists")) and the depression of all the fake smiles everyone hides behind. goals seem to float away from reach - all except death. and so this is of what he dreams. and, though his physical pain is self-inflicted, his emotional pain is out of his control. and maybe he hopes to fall into a permanent slumber.
    or maybe it is about clowns?
    lithium_barbie_dollon August 30, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI think this song is just about dreaming and all the crazy things that happen in dreams, its also about lucid dreaming lucidity.com/…

    very interesting
    guttedfishon April 28, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI think this song is just about dreaming and all the crazy things that happen in dreams, its also about lucid dreaming lucidity.com/…

    very interesting
    guttedfishon April 28, 2003   Link

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