Deus in Absentia

The title translated from Latin means "In the absence of God" which is the general concept of Meliora. Opus Eponymous was about creating the anti-Christ, Infestissumam was about the anti-Christ being on earth and Meliora I believe is the aftermath of all that.

Much like a lot of Ghost's songs this song is a narrator essentially berating and mocking someone. This one is kind of hard to get a meaning from but, to me, this song is the narrator talking to someone who was religious, worshiping God, discovering the darkness and his world is falling apart around him. Now that he knows the truth, he forsaken to stay and burn with the narrator.

Based on the album artwork, which depicts a devil ministering to an old man laying in a bed, I think this song represents a rich, powerful person coming to the end of their life. They realize that all their wealth and power, all the things they've come to rely on, mean nothing when faced with death. They are being tempted by Satan to turn to him, in the face of such a tragic realization of loss.

I believe this song is about someone realizing that the world is full of horrible atrocities, and turning to religion because that is what comforts them. It seems like the lyricist is telling them that this is a false hope, and we're all here to suffer the consequences of such false comforts keeping the common people from actually fixing their world because they believe that it is in God's hands and that all they need to do is pray and stay faithful.

Deus in Absentia means "In God's Absence."

The art accompanying this track is a man praying, lying in a bed facing away from a huge window with the world outside in flames. The man has his head turned, facing the devil, who is leaning on his bed and speaking to him, and gesturing to the burning city outside the window. I believe the devil in the art is the lyricist, seen as the devil through the eyes of the religious, as he tries to get the man to turn around and see that their prayer is not doing anything to stop the evils and suffering out in the world.

"Ain't this your time of need? You're turning to the light You have just begun to explore the dark In the urban night" Seeing some of the horrible things in the world, they turn to religion

"You're so goddamn frail Failing for a change You just had to know all about the world But you will never know 'Cause no one ever told you how The world is on fire And you are here to stay and burn with me A funeral pyre And we are here to revel forever" The "devil" tells them that they are not as tough as they act, and that because they are weak they chose to take comfort in religion instead of continuing to discover that the world is full of atrocity that could be fixed, and no god will ever come to make the world a better place or abate our suffering and dying.

Most of the rest is repetition. The line "And you're doing fine worshipping your lord, standing in his grave" may be a way of saying that worshipping a "dead" god and focusing on the afterlife, you may as well already be dead yourself.