Stellar

I think this song is summed up by the line "The wait hurts worse than the blows". The way I interpret it is about going through hard times early in life that feel hopeless, and fearing what the future might bring. However, while evolving as a person and hanging in there comes the realization that the anticipation of the worst that could happen is often worse than what actually happens and the process of moving on. To break it down more, lines like: "Within a dream I had" and "Into a body I once knew" would be like looking back on a time in your life and not even feeling like it was you after being so far removed from it. "Built a mere kingdom of self abuse" would be part of the anticipation that is worse than the realization of something "Withstood a thought so sad, I had to laugh" - 'withstood' would be the keyword here, and it's like thinking back to a previous experience and you can't believe you were so worried about it at the time

Anyway, that's just my take on it at the moment, maybe I'm onto something, and maybe I'm off, but it works for me...