Treasure Hugs

I think that this one is about overcoming depression.

"Well I know he's alive and tricking me into all sorts of things Bless his soul, bless his mind He is cold, He is blind"

"He" refers to personified depression in this song. (Whether it has the same meaning in the chorus of Exploring, I'm not sure.)

The narrator knows that they are still afflicted by depression, and that they're being tricked into a myriad of delusions by it. It's altering their view on life to make everything feel terrible, but the narrator is still aware that these are delusions.

"Bless his soul" etc. is a unique viewpoint on it, in which the narrator pities depression, for having to exist with such a horrible, twisted view of the world, and be so wrong about the way things really are.

"And I know he's wearing out after all these years And I'll find him dead some morning in my bedroom"

After so many years of it, the narrator's depression is finally lifting, and eventually they know that they will come home to realize that the depression has finally died once and for all.

"He'll have painted all my windows black Soon I won't have a single dose of tact at all"

Accentuating that "he" is depression, it says that he has painted all of their windows black. All of the narrator's outlets to the world have been darkened and twisted so that they're submerged in darkness. If it doesn't let up before too long, the narrator will be unable to function.

"And I just came back from coffee And I didn't bring my mind What's the use, it's gone dry No excuse, no goodbye"

The narrator not bringing their mind, it being useless and dry, refers to them feeling dead inside and going through life mechanically, with no thought. They're becoming apathetic and empty. There's "No excuse, no goodbye" meaning that there's no discernible reason for this, and no way to rationalize what's happening. Everything is just horrible and pointless for the narrator.

"And I've locked eyes with a tombstone He doesn't sleep he engineers thoughts I'll be dead one morning in my bedroom"

The narrator sees a tombstone, and figures that rather than sleeping, he engineers thoughts. This meaning that the deceased's death hasn't truly taken then from the world, but that their presence can still affect people.

In this case, they make the narrator think about their mortality, and about the fact that inevitably one day they're going to die, presumably by suicide.

"I'll have covered all my walls with crayon Obituary reads, 'Who's to blame for this disastrous plan?'"

The walls are covered in crayon, indicating that the narrator has tried desperately to paint a picture of happiness and glean what joy they can out of life, but it's all just futile scribbling on the walls that depression has painted over. When they're found dead, in their daydreaming, their obituary supposedly reads "Who's to blame for this disastrous plan?" Nobody knows why they committed suicide, nobody knows to blame depression. Depression gets away because the narrator couldn't take their silent suffering anymore.

"Imagine what you could make If your muse hadn't killed herself"

The narrator knew a girl who had killed herself for some reason or another, and this significantly harmed them. The narrator wishes that she had not given into depression, as the narrator is tempted to do themself.

"And after all these mistakes My life's no better than hell"

Not entirely sure what particular mistakes it's referring to here. Possibly suicide. Either way, the narrator's life feels like hell because of depression.

"Maybe delaying the wake wasn't best But I'm starting to tell"

The song is told from the narrator's perspective after they have "awakened" and made it long enough to find happiness. They delayed this, wallowing in sadness, and they regret this, however

"No matter what road you take there are spots With bone-dry wells"

the narrator acknowledges that, no matter what you do in life, there will be really painful periods in it, and you have to persevere and make it through them.

"I was talking to a man one day and he couldn't tell a lie"

The man that the narrator is talking to is a metaphor for their realization, the rest of the verse being a quotation from this man

"Time has flown, we will die We're alone, it's alright And in time we'll be forgotten every single mortal soul"

The narrator has accepted these painful truths, and realized that they can be happy despite them

"But you'll be alive one morning in your bedroom The sun will crack your windows, shake your walls And you will wake up, "

The "alive one morning" line, in my opinion, has an impact that's kind of hard to translate, but the narrator knows that, instead of being found dead in his bedroom, he will wake up there to a sunlit, beautiful room, every day. The sun is probably also a metaphor for the joy inherent in life vanquishing depression.

"Realize the walk was worth a thousand falls.""

The narrator knows that the painful parts of life aren't worth bailing out of, if you're sacrificing what you have left to live through and experience.

I also think that the instrumentals really illustrate this meaning really well. They manage to really communicate a sort of expansion, or opening to something greater, really expansive and bright. Again, hard to translate but it just seems to sound like cascading, sunny joy and realization.

Great translation AAAAA42 - I think you're pretty spot on. I have a couple of thoughts, though of course like most songs, this one is open for interpretation. I was thinking:

"And I know he's wearing out after all these years And I'll find him dead some morning in my bedroom"

That the narrator was getting worn down after all these years, from being depressed.

"Imagine what you could make If your muse hadn't killed herself"

Perhaps not a literal person killing themselves - maybe muse is referring to the narrators inner soul, or light, or source of inspiration?

Nevertheless, I digress: this song is amazing. Definitely one of my favorites - not just from the band, but one of my favorite songs period.

The sound, the lyrics, the feeling - perfect!