After The Ending

Every time I hear this song, it brings me to tears. The music and the lyrics are so beautiful.

It's about the circular nature of things. How creation and destruction are one and the same. It's about life and our struggle to find something to live for; some kind of meaning, but it eludes us, because we are but limited beings trying to reach beyond where our means can take us. Life seems so insignificant in the vastness of the universe, and this is emphasized by how fleeting it is: " although death is true for me/ There is nothing after the ending." When you think about things like that and things like the pain of life and the endless wars, it's easy to become disillusioned with it all.

However, there's a sort of comfort to be had from the acknowledgement of our insignificance in the universe. When he says that "there is nothing after the ending," this doesn't necessarily have to be taken as a pessimistic view, because when taken with everything else, it becomes clear that there IS no ending. We are all part of the infinity of life. Everything that ever was cannot be erased. Everything is eternal.

The best set of lines I have or ever will hear in any song... "And the world is moving towards, things like opposites and wars" "And the water from my eyes, is because I care who dies"

This song has me in tears everytime I hear it

(btw - the lyrics above are wrong, just look at your CD sleeve :P)

I really loved the voice effects in this song. The lyrics to most of the song seem very pessimistic, until the part where John is whispering. That part seems somewhat hopeful. I liked how those lyrics were put at the end, to leave you with that hope.

Pain - runs through.... life Pleasure's... other side Fear... some say Gives us such long lives Leads us... where we die

Time will soon be gone Is it starting at the dawn?

And the world is moving towards Things like opposites and wars And one knows to hear birds sing There was nothing to the beginning

And the water from my eyes Is because I care who dies Although death is transforming There is nothing after the ending

(wrote them from memory, but I think they are correct)

These are the right lyrics from the booklet which comes with the cd:

Pain runs through life Pleasures' other side Fear, some say, gives us such long lives Leads us where we drive Time will soon be born It is starting at the dawn And the world is moving towards Things like opposites and wars And one knows to hear birds sing There was nothing til the beginning And the water from my eyes Is because I care who dies Although death is transforming There is nothing after the ending Everything is eternal Nothingness does not exist No thing has ever become nothing And nothing has never become something What is has always been and will always be

At the end of the song, it seems like he's talking about how when you die, that's all there is. But then the whispering is kind of like a contradiction to that, saying that even when you die, that doesn't mean that it has to be the end of your existence.

Man this song just puts me in another place. But the loud thing at the ending snaps me right out of it back into reality.