The Unforgiven II

"Lay beside me, tell me what they've done" He's find another person, who has gone through the same ordeal he has, society rejects them both, and tries to get her to confide and console in him her experiences and demons of her past.

"Speak the words I wanna hear, to make my demons run The door is locked now, but it's open if you're true" He wants her to say things that will help ease the darkness he in consumed in. The door symbolising his secrets, the demons, the darkness, pain, suffering, and memories of his past which he will expose and confide to her if her actions are genuine and are really out of love & compassion. The door also symbolises the passage to freedom and the gateway to redemption. He wants her to help him find solace and bury the burdens of his past.

"If you can understand the me, than I can understand the you" If she can understand what he's gone through and has been in similar circumstances than surely he can understand what she's gone through as well.

"Lay beside me, under wicked sky The black of day, dark of night, we share this paralyse" He is asking her to join him in the "darkness" with the demons that haunt them. Every passing second they are consumed in this pain and suffering they both feel for their own as well as each other’s ordeals, "paralysing" them in the process.

"The door cracks open, but there's no sun shining through Black hearts scarring darkness still, but there's no sun shining through" They both seek solace and comfort in each other hoping for redemption. The "Sun shining" through the door symbolises the redemption, the forgiveness they both desperately seek to overcome their demons behind the door to their past.

"Black hearts" symbolising their own two hearts, still in the "Darkness" with their demons. (When I say demons I don't mean literally, I mean it figuratively as in "demons" symbolising their woes, negative experiences, haunting memories of their past etc)

"What I've felt, what I've known Turn the pages, turn the stone Behind the door, should I open it for you" He reflecting what he was taught and programmed to believe whilst growing up by the world, society 's norms, the system, His parents, other people and God. He wondering if he should help her seek redemption by opening the door for her, after all she's trying to help him (refer to what i said before about what I think the door symbolises)

"Yeah What I've felt, what I've known Sick and tired, I stand alone Could you be there, 'cause I'm the one who waits for you Or are you unforgiven too?" He's faced his battles and the demons of his past alone and wonders if she can be with him as he "turns the pages" of his past like a storybook and reads it out a loud to her and help him see through it not alone but together, relieve him of his pain and memories by sharing them with her.

If you notice, when you tend to share your problems with some one else it feels as though they share half the weight of your burden, yeah well that’s what I'm trying to say here. He contemplates if she's like him too . . Unforgiven that is.

"Lay beside me, this won't hurt, I swear" He's trying to convince her to help him confide his darkness in her and promises it won't affect her in anyway, or hurt her in the process (which is a load of bull, because how can not another person's experience especially that of a person whom you love not kill you, to know that muthafckers out there have broken them)

"She loves me not, she loves me still, but she'll never love again" As he's telling her all his secrets, he's unsure if she stills loves him the same still, or if her love for him changes.

"She lay beside me, but she'll be there when I'm gone Black hearts scarring darker steel, yes, she'll be there when I'm gone Yes, she'll be there when I'm gone" He's saying that he'll be able to be "forgiven" because of her but the thing is he'll be forgiven before her and he will no longer have to live in the "darkness" with his demons as he has found redemption at last. She on the other hand is still unforgiven and thus lies in the darkness with her demons alone.

"What I've felt, what I've known Turn the pages, turn the stone Behind the door, should I open it for you" Like I said before I think the chorus is the "aftermath" of him finally seeking redemption and leaving the darkness, since it's in past tense with the "I've". Now that he's free, he wonders if he should "open the door", help her find redemption as well.

"Yeah What I've felt, what I've known Sick and tired, I stand alone" Even though he's found redemption and is free of his demons, he's alone and misses her.

"Could you be there, 'cause I'm the one who waits for you Or are you unforgiven too?" He's wondering if she could join him and leave the darkness of her demons and find forgiveness too. He'll wait for her on the other side of the door, where he's found redemption and accepted his demons.

"Lay beside me, tell me what I've done The door is closed, so are your eyes" He's come back and returns to ask her what she thinks of him now, now that she knows everything terrible of his past (The door was open for her to enter and see into his memories of his past but now it's closed meaning she's returned from his past and he's finished confiding his ordeals to her).
There is an "insight motif". Her eyes are closed now symbolising she has finished searching for answers of his past and knows everything now.

"But now I see the sun, now I see the sun Yes, now I see it" He finally found redemption through her, because she accepts him for who he is and now he's is FORGIVEN.

"I take this key And I bury it in you Because you're unforgiven too" Figuratively speaking the "key" to the door he's giving her symbolises he's allowing her permanent access to his memories and she can ask him about his problems. Also he's giving her to key to access her own painful memories of the past as well maybe.

I wonder if metallica intended to do a pun considering the title of the song "The Unforgiven II" . .The second unforgiven person would be the girl who loves him. and In the chorus as well "'cause you're unforgiven too (II)" . . coincidence or what . .creative nonetheless. I love this song.

Well that’s my take on it. Believe it or deny it whatever you want with it. lol.