Shearwater

Home Life

7 Meanings

Add Yours

Q&A

Home Life Lyrics

	


when you were a child,
you were a tomboy
and your mother laughed at the serious way
that you looked at her
and from your window at night
there were the star's little fires
and the armory lights

you were tracing the lines
of a globe with your fingers:
cool rivers, white wastes
desert shores, and the forest green
and a limitless life
in the breath of each tide
and each bright mountain, rising

but now the boys are away,
and such kicks they are having;
slashing away at the forest walls,
with their bitter knives.
sparks bloom in their eyes,
and they never look tired.
will they never look tired?

on cliffs that tower from the rising seas
their bonfire glow
where a tiger lies
and, cleaning their weapons,
they laugh at his useless
claws, and all:
it is a beautiful night
to be born to this life
and grind his every bone to powder!

do you remember
do you remember

she carried you down to the edge
of the dark river and said:
though the water is wide,
you will never grow tired
you are bound to your life
like a mother and child.
you will cling to your life
like a suckering vine
and like the rest of our kind
you will increase
and increase
past all of our dreaming

horse without rider
lungs without breathing
day without light
song without singing
a song...

	

Submitted by

thiagozero On Jun 03, 2008

My Good Deed

La Dame et la Licorne

Rooks

Leviathan, Bound

Animal Life

Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

7 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Sort by

by McWatt

17y ago

"you looked at her" - her = mother nature I'm guessing. We're destroying mother nature and her beauty, even though we're dependent on her and will be lost without her.

Gorgeous song. The sequence about 3:50 in gives me chills.

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by cottonbullett

17y ago

I have a more simplistic take on this song, I think it's just about childhood and memories.

By the way, the instrumentation in this song is amazing.

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by b1ackb1rd

16y ago

I second that the instrumentation in this song is amazing.

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by undeniabledreamer

16y ago

tI does seem like he's depicting a massive destruction of sorts.

"where a tiger lies and, cleaning their weapons, they laugh at his useless claws" that idea interests me.

It's an interesting song, all in all, and I'm not sure of it's meaning.

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by zoolah

16y ago

his voice reminds me of kate bush a lot especially in this song, melody of it included

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by zoolah

16y ago

his voice reminds me of kate bush a lot especially in this song, melody of it included

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by carlwinslow

16y ago

It's about a tomboy who is coming to terms with her gender and roles. "Home Life" refers to a woman's work at home.

In the second stanza, the girl wants to be like the rest of the guys, who are out having fun and doing boyish things in the woods.

The lines "where a tiger lies and, cleaning their weapons, they laugh at his useless claws" refers to the boys' superiority over the tiger.

That the subject should be fixated on the idea of a tiger indicates the passion she has with in her towards living the life of boys.

The last stanza's refer to the subject inheriting her gender roles. It doesn't portray them as burdens, but as obligations with the hope of one day she will be liberated (or be the one to liberate).

The very last stanza is sets of paradoxes that convey the idea that the subject is stuck in one life while wanting another.

Users:

Reply · 0 Share