This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Sacrifices buried with kings
Accompany them on a journey with no end
To an afterlife that's rich with fruit of all the gods
And to face the demons
Of their underworld haunts
The sentient is sent to seek out all the truth
A flight to earth that is a given from his birth
To rise from ashes of the dead
Out of the fire is sent to full fill man's desire
The power day and night and death he ruled them
The sky and earth and the fires too
Two headed reptile symbol of his reign
Universes of the underworld
A life that's full of all the wealth and riches
Can never last for an eternity
After living in a golden paradise
The ultimate sacrifice
Prophecy of sky gods, the sun and moon
Passing of old ways will come true soon
Falling of ages, forest of kings
The search for the truth, the book of souls
The rulers of planets and stars
The power of the kings of traders and the wars
Planetary cycles and the phases of the moon
Is in the document a kingdom they will learn
They were praying to the gods of nature
And were living in the cities of stone
Towers reaching upward to the heavens
Sacred wonders for the world unknown
Make their lives be a mystery no more
Records kept and the passing of laws
Sacred gods to the book of lies
When a civilization dies
Prophecy of sky gods
The sun and moon
Passing of old ways will come true soon
Falling of ages
Forest of kings
The lost book of souls, destruction begins
Ascending the throne wearing feathers and shells
He brought back their lives from the void
Alien invasion brings nothing but death
Mass exodus and plant life destroyed
Domain of the earth to the journey of truth
The underworld caves, Mayan slaves
Defeat of the dark lords
The ultimate proof
In the place where the ancestors rule
The book of souls
Accompany them on a journey with no end
To an afterlife that's rich with fruit of all the gods
And to face the demons
Of their underworld haunts
The sentient is sent to seek out all the truth
A flight to earth that is a given from his birth
To rise from ashes of the dead
Out of the fire is sent to full fill man's desire
The power day and night and death he ruled them
The sky and earth and the fires too
Two headed reptile symbol of his reign
Universes of the underworld
A life that's full of all the wealth and riches
Can never last for an eternity
After living in a golden paradise
The ultimate sacrifice
Prophecy of sky gods, the sun and moon
Passing of old ways will come true soon
Falling of ages, forest of kings
The search for the truth, the book of souls
The rulers of planets and stars
The power of the kings of traders and the wars
Planetary cycles and the phases of the moon
Is in the document a kingdom they will learn
They were praying to the gods of nature
And were living in the cities of stone
Towers reaching upward to the heavens
Sacred wonders for the world unknown
Make their lives be a mystery no more
Records kept and the passing of laws
Sacred gods to the book of lies
When a civilization dies
Prophecy of sky gods
The sun and moon
Passing of old ways will come true soon
Falling of ages
Forest of kings
The lost book of souls, destruction begins
Ascending the throne wearing feathers and shells
He brought back their lives from the void
Alien invasion brings nothing but death
Mass exodus and plant life destroyed
Domain of the earth to the journey of truth
The underworld caves, Mayan slaves
Defeat of the dark lords
The ultimate proof
In the place where the ancestors rule
The book of souls
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
The Book of Souls Lyrics as written by Stephen Percy Harris Janick Gers
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Sacrifices buried with kings Accompany them on a journey with no end To an afterlife that's rich with fruit of all the gods And to face the demons Of their underworld haunts"
The song begins with a foreshadowing of its end. A ruler is buried along with their followers. Many ancient societies had this custom-slaves and followers were often sacrificed in the belief that the ruler would be afford ed a place of honor in the afterworld and would want/need servants to rule over. That and to sacrifice should they end up in their version of Hell. It was a cruel way of hedging their bets.
"The sentient is sent to seek out all the truth A flight to earth that is a given from his birth To rise from ashes of the dead Out of the fire is sent to full fill man's desire"
A 'sentient' or clever/wise/smart person rises to power. Whether they are or are just seen as wise and/or a savior they're granted power over others in part because those they rule over feel they'll be given what they want, too.
"The power day and night and death he ruled them The sky and earth and the fires too Two headed reptile symbol of his reign Universes of the underworld"
This refers to the Aztec ruler Moctezuma. The two-headed serpent was a symbol of his reign.
"A life that's full of all the wealth and riches Can never last for an eternity After living in a golden paradise The ultimate sacrifice"
When Cortés arrived in Mexico from Spain he was greeted by Moctezuma. "Some sources report that Moctezuma thought that Cortés was the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl and treated him accordingly. Cortés was given a number of valuable gifts, which included turquoise sculptures, and possibly this serpent. Despite the gifts and the peaceful reception, Moctezuma was taken prisoner by Cortés and his troops took Moctezuma's capital, Tenochtitlan, by 1521. The Aztecs were brutally and systematically enslaved and murdered, in spite of their generosity. They then fell victim to smallpox and other European diseases brought to Mexico by Cortés and his troops." -Wikipedia
"Prophecy of sky gods, the sun and moon Passing of old ways will come true soon
Falling of ages, forest of kings The search for the truth, the book of souls"
Many cultures have made prophecies about the end times. Many cultures have also fallen, thus fulfilling those prophecies. The 'book of souls' is the record of all the civilizations lost.
The rest of the song is a metaphor for both the fall of the Aztec civilization as well as a metaphor for all kingdoms. As others have said and Bruce has stated explicitly this happens to all kingdoms and empires no matter how benevolent. Time passes, the people become greedy or disastisfied or some invader or disease comes along and they fall. It's a tale as old as time itself.