A Desolation Song

Agalloch

Here I sit at the fire
Liquor's bitter flames warm my languid soul
Here I drink alone and remember
A graven life, the stain of her memory
In this cup, love's poison
For love is the poison of life
Tip the cup, feed the fire,
And forget about useless fucking hope. . .

Lost in the desolation of love
The passions we reap and sow
Lost in the desolation of life
This path that we walk. . .

Here's to love, the sickness
The great martyr of the soul
Here's to life, the vice
The great herald of misery
In this cup, spiritus frumenti
For this is the nectar of the spirit
Quench the thirst, drown the sorrow
And forget about cold yesterdays. . .

Lost in the desolation of love
The passions we reap and sow
Lost in the desolation of life
This path that we walk. . .
Lost in the desolation of love
The sorrows we reap and sow
Lost in the desolation of life
The path that we walk. .


Lyrics submitted by Disposition_987, edited by lordflasheart

A Desolation Song song meanings
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11 Comments

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  • +4
    General CommentThis is on of my all-time favorite acoustic guitar songs. It strikes me as a song told from the point of view of a man trying to drink away the bitterness of lost love and sitting by the fire reflecting on the hopelessness he feels.
    Windsongon May 31, 2009   Link
  • +4
    General CommentThis is one of those songs that I rarely listen to, not because it isn't a decent song, but because it's just too good to listen to very often. I heard it on 'The Mantle' when the album first came out, I guess eight years ago. I remember hearing this song, and thinking 'oh yes, pretty melody, unrequited love, pain, isolation, that's nice.' Eight years later I understand it. I wish I didn't.
    Into_the_Nihilon July 27, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General CommentAn amazing song; it does something to the soul. And with an accordion no less!

    I think at the lowest level this song can be taken as a lament to an actual love lost, and the depression one experiences after losing love.
    However, knowing Agalloch, the song should have a deeper and totally different meaning. I think this song encapsulates the futility and hopelessness of life. The "love" spoken about is the love of life, and the narrator is contemplating suicide (perhaps by the poison in the cup). It would tie in to the overall nihilistic approach in the rest of the album.
    Feytaliston March 17, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General CommentInto The nihil, you state you know the true meaning? what would the tree meaning be.
    AtrocityOfTheDivineon August 17, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General CommentLife is poison, death is cure.. and he's poisoning himself witht the liquor, which makes him love life, the sickness..
    EuropeanJazzon December 30, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI thoroughly enjoy this song. even if I only can relate a little
    CrateCrasheron October 23, 2017   Link
  • -1
    General CommentIt's "useless fucking hope"
    cassiuson January 16, 2007   Link
  • -1
    General CommentIt's "useless fucking hope"
    cassiuson January 16, 2007   Link
  • -1
    General Commentas the song name says, this song is about desolation...
    snakey!on May 09, 2007   Link
  • -1
    General CommentI'm pretty sure it's about alchoholism.
    Demonoidon July 21, 2007   Link

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