Her Hands Were Leaves

a wonderful song about reminiscing on people in your life and what they've been through; doesn't really matter what it was, as long as it matters to the person remembering

I am kinda stuck on this song right now...

His back is bare he carries no burden for anyone Strikes me that he is talking about an unmarried brother with no responsibilities

He doesn’t know who he’s supposed to be A father who has spent his life providing for his family and it has made him tired and he doesn't know anything but this and maybe it wasn't enough.

As she prays she thinks that no one heard I am not sure exactly about this but maybe it means she feels a bit unappreciated?

I actually don´t know what is this song all about... but I´m gonna go for a mother who just lost her whole family, and has her last son in her arms dying... I KNOW how it all sound.. i heard myself, but think about it for a moment there: He sees his brother and his father sourrounded in silver lines, and then he feels the hands of her mother, and she is -i presume- having him in her lap.... so the guy is dying and all he can think of is in his mother like a bird, and he thinks of reuniting with hhis lost ones...

Ok, I know... way too creepy

To me this songs takes on a very grim, unsettling and at the same time a calm tone as is clear from the kind of dissonance created by the 7th chord voicing.

"See my brother he is walking in the sun His back is bare he carries no burden for anyone I see the island, a silver line Brother how you shine And all around the light And all around the light"

This first para, I see as a mild assertion to a seemingly harsh reality that his brother is no more on this earth. He has no burden now as he is not alive anymore. The singer sees the island symbolic of his revelation/realization of a kind of heaven his brother is in now.

"Now I see my father he’s so small against the sky Child, the tree, the shadow is on his eye He doesn’t know who he’s supposed to be Father you are free And all around the light And all around the light"

The second paragraph, again, starts in a tone of disclosure or revelation. His father, who is usually this high dominating figure that he looks up to, now, seems so small against the sky symbolic of reality. The child and the tree may have a connection with his brothers' past. Memories come afloat here. The shadow indicating the stress his father is going through. He has lost himself and the singer is telling him that he is free; free to express, free to cry all around the light.

"Now my mother she is crying on the stairs Her hands are leaves, the light is in her hair As she prays she thinks that no one heard Mother you are a bird Mother you are a bird And all around the light And all around the light And all around the light All around the light"

Here, he tells of his mother who is still crying for her loss. I use the word "still" as her crying on the stair is indicative of the fact she doesn't want anyone to know she is crying which is in turn indicative of the fact this period is a little ahead of his brothers passing. The loss still haunts her to its full effect. She prays for him everyday. The singer talks of her as a bird flying all around the light.

The light is a personification of his brother.