Sometimes
For a moment of bliss
In the passion
We're craving
There's a message we miss
Sometimes when
The spirit's left alone
We must believe in something
To find if we've grown
Tragic reflex
Shattered calm
Static progress
Senses gone
Numb awareness
Final psalm
Swept away with the tide
(Swept away with the tide)
Through the holes in my hands
(Through the holes in my hands)
Crown of thorns at my side
(Crown of thorns
At my side ye ye yeah)
Drawing lines in the sand
Sometimes
If you're perfectly still
You can hear the virgin weeping
For the savior of your will
Sometimes
Your castles in the air
And the fantasies you're seeking
Are the crosses you bear
Sacred conflict
Blessed prize
Weeping crosses
Stainless eyes
Desperate addict
Faith disguised
Swept away with the tide
(Swept away with the tide)
Through the holes in my hands
(Through the holes in my hands yeah)
Crown of thorns at my side
(Crown of thorns at my side)
Drawing lines in the sand
We fabricate our demons
Invite them into our homes
Have supper with the aliens
And fight the war alone
We conjure up our skeletons
Enlist the den of thieves
Frightened from our closets
Then sewn upon our sleeves
In the stream of consciousness
There is a river crying
Living comes much easier
Once we admit
We're dying
Sometimes
In the wreckage of our wake
There's a bitterness we harbor
And hate for hatred's sake
Sometimes
We dig an early grave
And crucify our instincts
For the hope we couldn't save
Sometimes
A view from sinless eyes
Centers our perspective
And pacifies our cries
Sometimes
The anguish we survive
And the mysteries we nurture
Are the fabrics of our lives
Swept away with the tide
(Swept away with tide yeeah)
Through the holes in my hands
(Through the holes
Holes in my hands)
Crown of thorns at my side
(Crown of thorns at my side yeah)
Drawing lines in the sand
For a moment of bliss
In the passion
We're craving
There's a message we miss
Sometimes when
The spirit's left alone
We must believe in something
To find if we've grown
Tragic reflex
Shattered calm
Static progress
Senses gone
Numb awareness
Final psalm
Swept away with the tide
(Swept away with the tide)
Through the holes in my hands
(Through the holes in my hands)
Crown of thorns at my side
(Crown of thorns
At my side ye ye yeah)
Drawing lines in the sand
Sometimes
If you're perfectly still
You can hear the virgin weeping
For the savior of your will
Sometimes
Your castles in the air
And the fantasies you're seeking
Are the crosses you bear
Sacred conflict
Blessed prize
Weeping crosses
Stainless eyes
Desperate addict
Faith disguised
Swept away with the tide
(Swept away with the tide)
Through the holes in my hands
(Through the holes in my hands yeah)
Crown of thorns at my side
(Crown of thorns at my side)
Drawing lines in the sand
We fabricate our demons
Invite them into our homes
Have supper with the aliens
And fight the war alone
We conjure up our skeletons
Enlist the den of thieves
Frightened from our closets
Then sewn upon our sleeves
In the stream of consciousness
There is a river crying
Living comes much easier
Once we admit
We're dying
Sometimes
In the wreckage of our wake
There's a bitterness we harbor
And hate for hatred's sake
Sometimes
We dig an early grave
And crucify our instincts
For the hope we couldn't save
Sometimes
A view from sinless eyes
Centers our perspective
And pacifies our cries
Sometimes
The anguish we survive
And the mysteries we nurture
Are the fabrics of our lives
Swept away with the tide
(Swept away with tide yeeah)
Through the holes in my hands
(Through the holes
Holes in my hands)
Crown of thorns at my side
(Crown of thorns at my side yeah)
Drawing lines in the sand
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"Sometimes a view from sinless eyes
Centers our perspective
And pacifies our cries"
The chorus is an image of a holier than thou person. They are bogged down in becoming so religious and living perfectly that they forget jesus' suffering (crown of thorns at the side) and are drawing their own lines in the sand, not the ones jesus drew. The first line "Swept away with the tides" is a lament as to how widespread this is, especially in america with small fundamentalist churches all over the shop.
the concious of person who turned unreligious due to some misfortune in his life.
i'm surprised only one person commented on this song.
One of the first i heard that really made me realise how effective they were at making the listener feel what they wanted you to feel.
First, a couple of the guys are from a Catholic background, so "you can hear the virgin weeping for the savior of your will" is a reference to the Virgin Mary, ever interceding to the Savior on the behalf of mankind. She weeps because the message Jesus taught has been so disregarded by so many of us.
"Tragic reflex, shattered calm/ Static progress, senses gone/ Numb awareness, final psalm..." When one is deeply cut or struck, the unfortunate reflex is to recoil. When that blow comes from a member of the church, or the organization as a whole, one's whole sense of stability and peace is shattered. Any "progress" that had been made in one's life is suddenly revealed as nothing more than useless static, providing no power or substance. After the initial reaction, a numbness sets in, partly from shock and partly from pain. A "swan song" is sung, in which a victim declares he's never going back. This can be supported by the title, "Drawing Lines In the Sand." They're demarkations of decision, though they're not necessarily permanent or indelible.
"Living becomes so much easier once we admit we're dying" stresses a moment in time in people's lives where they understand the need of practical living rather than idyllic existence, much of which can be quite illusionary. Just my take, however. I'd love to get inside the heads of DT, particularly John Petrucci, when he penned this. I know this (1997) was a very dark time in his life, as well as forMike Portnoy, who had recently lost his mother when "A Change of Seasons" was written.
"We fabricate our demons
Invite them into our homes
Have supper with the aliens
And fight the war alone
We conjure up our skeletons
Enlist the den of theives
Frightened from our closets
Then sewn upon our sleeves"
We make up threats to our cause, fight amongst each other and we are willing to give up all we stand for just to se our (made up) enemies defeated. The title about "drawing lines in the sand", as twasthen put it, could symbolize these meaningless and easilly altered boundries that separate man from himself based on nothing but blind dogmatic faith - wheter in politics, religion, nationalism and so on - and the hypocrisy that comes with it. Man always comes up with reasons to hate each other. For instance, practically every language has a word for "barbarian". In other words, barbarians view other people as barbarians. This is especially clear in the part
"Sometimes, in the wreckage of our wake
There's a bitterness we harbor
And hate for hatred's sake"
Every cause ever concieved has the potential to turn out bad, once you forget what you really "fight" for. People start drawing lines in the sand, and those lines are constantly shifting, and people hate each other just because they "always have".
In essence, I think this song is about making us think about what we really live for - Is it to further a cause we don't even support? "Once we admit we're dying" we can start thinking about what really matters - we aren't going to live forever, so we should think carefully before fighting someone elses fight, just so they can get out on top.