Cinder and Smoke

I agree with the idea that it's about the end of a relationship. A very sad, yet peaceful, song. The line "Give me your hand" is repeated three times (along with "Cinder and Smoke"), and it seems to suggest that the singer desparately wants the other person to trust him again. "Cinder and smoke" I think refers to the charred remains to the relationship, so each stanze starts off optimistic, but then he realizes how things won't be the same again.

In the first stanza, the dog and the snake are symbols of loyalty and dishonesty. Since the dog is mentioned in the first half and the snake in the second half, it reinforces the idea that the first half of each stanze is more optimistic than the second. The dog is trying to salvage the mother's clothes from the fire, while the snake is just waiting in the shade. Also, the way that the song is phrased gives a dual meaning to "The snake in the basement found/the juniper shade." Since it sounds like the snake was found in the basement, it could refer to some sort of dishonesty found by one of the partners that caused the breakup.

The second stanza shows once again the singer's willingness to do anything to continue the relationship, saying that he will give her anything as fast as their relationship is ending, possibly trying to quench the flames. Flames could also be referring to passion, suggesting a slightly sexual theme to this part. But in the second half, he hears the whispers, and "The juniper bends/as if you were listening." This line tells us what the juniper symbolizes: it's the singer's partner, meaning that in the first stanza, the snake, or the disloyalty, was accepted by her. Since the dog was dragging the singer's partner's mother's clothes, it is safe to assume that the dishonesty was on the part of the partner, and since she is giving it shade, she accepts it and doesn't wish to change it. The whispers could just be rumors about them (I'm not sure), maybe she has a history of doing this sort of thing.

In the last stanza, the mother is drunk, and chances are the father is unconscious or somehow dead. As was said by someone before, the family could be so distraught because their daughter was dishonest, causing rumors to go around like in the last stanze. In the small community that I'm guessing this takes place in, such a scandal could mean ruin for a family. If you've ever read "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets," you'll get what I'm talking about. Since the mother is drunk and the father was caught in the blaze, the father possibly could have started the fire himself (or told the singer about his partner's infidelity) but been caught up in the fire somehow (I'm no god of lyrical analysis, I just think it's fun, feel free to disagree/help me out), while the mother is upset both about her husband's role in the breakup (maybe she liked the singer) and upset that her daughter would be so dishonest.

The final three lines are the singer's misgivings about what he should do. If he approaches her again, maybe she'll ask him to "pray for rain," or forgive her, let the fire start down, and begin anew. But he's also afraid that after that, he won't be able to trust her. The ash in her mouth is her responsibility, the fact that she will never be able to escape the past and what she did, and that she might do it again, ending the relationship and "ask it to burn again."

This is sort of long...I hope nobody minds. I just happen to really like this song.