To me this song is easy, and it can be taken 2 ways.
First, it can be said to be about slavery in the 1800's; as is evident with the images of "burning through the noose"
"touch the trrees no one has known", "it isn't much, but i'm free at last"
to me the song is speaking about how even after slaves tried to get free, and were freed in the south, they still were'nt treated as humans, and being forced to work as indentured servants, etc, therefore; "to return to the cold"
or, the 2nd way, as malvenko said, it could be more allegorically, as in being a slave to an addiction, as the lines"rebuild/what's left of this child/so weak". It's about constantly struggling with quitting an addiction, and winning, but it still feels like an empty victory because the addiction has ruined your life. my 2 cents.
To me this song is easy, and it can be taken 2 ways.
First, it can be said to be about slavery in the 1800's; as is evident with the images of "burning through the noose" "touch the trrees no one has known", "it isn't much, but i'm free at last"
to me the song is speaking about how even after slaves tried to get free, and were freed in the south, they still were'nt treated as humans, and being forced to work as indentured servants, etc, therefore; "to return to the cold"
or, the 2nd way, as malvenko said, it could be more allegorically, as in being a slave to an addiction, as the lines"rebuild/what's left of this child/so weak". It's about constantly struggling with quitting an addiction, and winning, but it still feels like an empty victory because the addiction has ruined your life. my 2 cents.