So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
See me waving my handkerchief on the shore
see my arm raised high
see that ship sail off
with its sails aloft
and see me dry my eyes
and see more
salty tears flow
as my house is blown wide
and see me watch the waves roll in from somewhere
see me squint my eyes
see me learn to live without my loved ones
see me scan the skys
and see
the flock of birds goodbye
and turn to go inside
but I feel you
on my neck
you are a bow of fire
see me reach up
see me touch my neck
see my fingers recoil
see the life come into my body
see me living wide
and see me look from side to side
and tiptoe in your light
see me look at you and lose my sight
and while my eyes burned I saw it
oh no
here comes a black ship
rising under red sail
see it fill the sky
see it bellow up
see the their gleaming eyes
hear their scary trumpets on
see me run in terror for the mountain
see me scramble high
and see me burned and blind
and all hopeless and barren
see me sprawled out
see me crawl and whine
see me search for signs
and I see you weird and high
you are a bow
are a bow of fire
you are a bow of fire
you are a bow
see my arm raised high
see that ship sail off
with its sails aloft
and see me dry my eyes
and see more
salty tears flow
as my house is blown wide
and see me watch the waves roll in from somewhere
see me squint my eyes
see me learn to live without my loved ones
see me scan the skys
and see
the flock of birds goodbye
and turn to go inside
but I feel you
on my neck
you are a bow of fire
see me reach up
see me touch my neck
see my fingers recoil
see the life come into my body
see me living wide
and see me look from side to side
and tiptoe in your light
see me look at you and lose my sight
and while my eyes burned I saw it
oh no
here comes a black ship
rising under red sail
see it fill the sky
see it bellow up
see the their gleaming eyes
hear their scary trumpets on
see me run in terror for the mountain
see me scramble high
and see me burned and blind
and all hopeless and barren
see me sprawled out
see me crawl and whine
see me search for signs
and I see you weird and high
you are a bow
are a bow of fire
you are a bow of fire
you are a bow
Lyrics submitted by langdon
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Maybe he means bow like a violin or cello bow being drawn across his neck