I knew you wanted to tell me
In your voice there was something wrong
But if you would turn your face away from me
You cannot tell me you're so strong
Just let me ask of you one small thing
As we have shared so many tears
With forever our dreams we planned a whole life long
Now are scattered on the wind
[Chorus]
In the terms of endearment
In the terms of the life that you love
In the terms of the years that pass you by
In the terms of the reasons why
Through the years I've grown to love you
Through your commitment to most would offend
But I stuck by you holding on with my foolish pride
Waiting for you to give in
You never really tried or so it seems
I've had more than myself to blame
I've had enough of trying everything
And this time it is the end
[Chorus]
There's no more coming back this way
The path is overgrown and strewn with thorns
They've torn the life blood from your naked eyes
Cast aside to be forlorn
[Chorus]
Funny, how it seems that all I've tried to do
Seemed to make no difference to you at all
In your voice there was something wrong
But if you would turn your face away from me
You cannot tell me you're so strong
Just let me ask of you one small thing
As we have shared so many tears
With forever our dreams we planned a whole life long
Now are scattered on the wind
[Chorus]
In the terms of endearment
In the terms of the life that you love
In the terms of the years that pass you by
In the terms of the reasons why
Through the years I've grown to love you
Through your commitment to most would offend
But I stuck by you holding on with my foolish pride
Waiting for you to give in
You never really tried or so it seems
I've had more than myself to blame
I've had enough of trying everything
And this time it is the end
[Chorus]
There's no more coming back this way
The path is overgrown and strewn with thorns
They've torn the life blood from your naked eyes
Cast aside to be forlorn
[Chorus]
Funny, how it seems that all I've tried to do
Seemed to make no difference to you at all
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Path of Thorns (Terms) Lyrics as written by Sarah Mclachlan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
This song captures one person's devotion to a non-committal person. The singer had wanted to share a life with the person she's singing to, but he has recently broke up with her. She already suspected the break-up because she observes, "In your voice there was something wrong." She talks about how they planned their dreams show through in "terms of endearment" (affectionate nicknames) and the time they've spent together. Foolishly, she stayed with him, hoping he would change. But he is unable to make a commitment and now, there is no use staying together any longer.
this is quite the jammin song. i love it. :)
Sarah McLachlan would have been a good, possibly really successful poet if Canadian/American culture was currently into poetry in any significant way. This song and "Vox" make me believe this. She uses some cruddy technique here and there, but she's got the raw ability.
I think this song's meaning is pretty clear: a man the speaker of this song loved leaves her, to go on to different things, and the speaker recalls all they've been through, and she realizes she should have seen it coming.
Anyway...the Mirrorball live version of this song is waaay better than the studio version on Solace. Great song either way, though.
It seems like she's saying "Man, I thought you would change. I tried to make you realize that you mattered, that I wanted you to see that I loved you. I was wrong."<br /> <br /> And yeah, all the songs on Mirrorball seem more heartfelt and full of raw poetry than their studio counterparts.