Then, the Sky Opened Up and Swallowed Them Whole

The way I see it, this song is a discussion between Mother Earth and Father Sky in which they express their disgust of humanity for the mistreatment of the planet and its natural resources. Let’s look at the lyrics piece by piece: Vague were their eyes As if withholding little secrets Fixed upon their need to quench a thirst "Just one drink's enough for me But I can't speak for the shadow beneath me" To the Earth and Sky, humanity is clearly untrustworthy and deceitful (hence the vague eyes and secrets), not to mention selfish and individually minded. Humans see no wrong in taking what they want for themselves (just one drink’s enough for me), but do not account for the rest of their species doing the same thing to potentially greater degrees (the “shadow” represents humanity as a whole composed of many individuals) The chorus is Mother Earth’s taunting warning to the human race: Creeping, Crawling, Desperately Make, Make me believe That I am a fountain, leave me dry Well I'll show you empty, I'll show you empty Take all you need from me I'll bring the Famine Humanity is a creeping, crawling vermin desperate to fulfil its whims regardless of expense, and Mother Earth is essentially saying “Go ahead, treat me like an endless bounty of life (water in the fountain), but mark my words, one day you will have consumed everything, but for now, keep on taking away. You’ll get what’s coming for you (the famine)

Now Father Sky states his observations of humanity and how it brings no good to anybody. They took her eyes for the Beauty she sees in all things Viles of tears worn proudly around their necks Memories of loved ones lost And the girl that got away And he's left with nothing Everyone is left with nothing “She” is Mother Earth in this case, the viles of tears and eyes being metaphorical examples of how humanity has degraded and ravaged the Earth for centuries. Father Sky knew the Earth before humans existed, and that innocence is the “loved ones lost” Additionally, he knows that at the rate humanity is defiling the earth, both he and them will lose completely if the earth is essentially killed by humans. Here we have humanity join the conversation, telling the Earth to reveal all of its treasures and power, to which the Earth replies by telling humanity they are dependent upon her for everything and this cannot escape her eventual depletion. Humanity cannot take the hint, and pushes its own agenda forwards (if the earth will not readily provide, humanity will forcibly find and take what it wants- much like converting the personified earth to humanity’s “religion” under duress) Show me all of your darkness, your secrets "Don't you know there's no escaping me?" You are the fountain, I'll make you believe Make you believe Here we have a second retort by Mother Earth; slight chance in wording, but effectively the same message as the chorus (If I’m your fountain of riches, then fine. You can convince yourselves you;ve won, but the fountain will still dry up one day) Wash your greedy hands with me Well, I'll show you empty, I'll show you empty Take all you need from me I'll bring the Famine The final set of lyrics is the Earth and Sky’s final straw- they fully acknowledge that humanity, an offspring of the Earth, is a heartless abomination. The Earth and Sky have lost patience, and succumbed to rage, unleashing natural disasters upon the land to exterminate the human plague, where they can due penance for their sins through death I've created a monster Rage overflowing, you're done taking from me As the Earth pulls you under I'll show you empty when you are buried The last line, “Left with nothing, watch them flee”, however, tells us that some of humanity abandoned Earth when the disasters struck, fleeing to space instead. The Earth just scoffs at them with this line, and essentially says “I told you so” to the remnants of the greedy race. Overall, this interpretation makes sense and fits with the title- in the end , the sky opens up and swallows humanity whole. At the same time, I am reminded of the Matrix- “The only way for you to survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern... a virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer on this planet, you are a plague, and we... are the cure.” Just some food for thought…