Er... I think there aren't two many metaphors. The whole song is probably one, though I just see it as a story. It seems like the narrator has some serious physical deformity and has had a surgery leaving them.. freakish-looking (the mention of the face tied by string and the pain in the chest). That's why they can only do solitary work for a living (it's obvious people can't bear to look at them because they say only animals like them).
All the references of being alone suggest the narrator's obvious alienation resulting from their appearance.
The part about the women telling her things by the stump makes me imagine some old lady telling little kids wild stories (the part about the bell and wings). The narrator hears these stories and doesn't believe/understand them. Perhaps they had this deformity all their life and thus never learned to hope?
Er... I think there aren't two many metaphors. The whole song is probably one, though I just see it as a story. It seems like the narrator has some serious physical deformity and has had a surgery leaving them.. freakish-looking (the mention of the face tied by string and the pain in the chest). That's why they can only do solitary work for a living (it's obvious people can't bear to look at them because they say only animals like them).
All the references of being alone suggest the narrator's obvious alienation resulting from their appearance.
The part about the women telling her things by the stump makes me imagine some old lady telling little kids wild stories (the part about the bell and wings). The narrator hears these stories and doesn't believe/understand them. Perhaps they had this deformity all their life and thus never learned to hope?
It's a confusing song, but this is how I saw it.