If you break apart the song by lines based on the first 4 verses/sections it is somewhat interesting. Here it is:
There are times that walk from you
Like some passing afternoon
There are things that drift away
Like our endless numbered days
There are sailing ships that pass
All our bodies in the grass
There are things we can't recall
Blind as night that finds us all
These set the tone for that particular verse in my opinion all of course have to deal with how time passes us by and it being both odd how we remember various experiences throughout our lives and how we forget some.
Next section:
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made
Springtime calls her children until she lets them go at last
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
These lines give an analogy for the breakdown of a life being like a year. Perhaps this is simply a comparison to the narrator's story/memory to a single year. It could also be simply the way the narrator remembers the woman being described in this song. It is possible that a series of events happened over a year but I don't think that is the case...
Next section:
And she chose a yard to burn
But the ground remembers her
And she's chosen to believe
In the hymns her mother sings
And she's chosen where to be
Though she's lost her wedding ring
But my hands remember hers
Rolling around the shaded ferns
Informs the listener to the state of the woman in those parts of her life or during that "year".
Next section:
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms
Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves
Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned
All lines have something to do with the children in this song. Not all lines stand alone well particularly the last two but I think they are appropriate for my theory of breaking the song apart a bit. The lines still have to do with the children in relation to the narrator and the woman.
The last verse is taken separately.
There are names across the sea
Only now I do believe
Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me
But she'll mend his tattered clothes
And they'll kiss as if they know
A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone
This is the reflection of the narrator. Based on this break down I think this song is about one or some combination of three things:
It seems extremely clear it is about a marriage that ended for some reason. Given the lines about children it almost seems like they had children then as the nest emptied the love between narrator and woman faded. The only problem I see with this is the last verse. When you take the song as a whole but keeping the breakdown of sections into consideration and tie in the last verse it almost seems like there was a happy marriage that had children in it or planned to be in it. Then as time passes for various reasons this relationship sours I think it is either due to the death of the child/children or even possibly an abortion.
It also seems clear that the second man (not the narrator) the woman ends up with knew both the narrator and woman. "They'll kiss as if they know a baby sleeps in all our bones..."
That all being said my last idea which is the one I lean closest to is the following: Narrator and woman are married, things are great, they have a kid or kids, they get divorced due to an affair on the part of the woman. It isn't that she is simply lusting after this other man that is presumably a friend of the family, but perhaps the man she loved and married isn't quite the same anymore or even simply the love they had has changed over time. A Bougainvillea is a flower that blooms all year obviously this could be a metaphor for an everlasting love but the woman's seems to have dried up. Maybe the kid leaves or is messed up from the divorce the ending of the song suggests that everyone understands that they all in various ways abandoned a child through perhaps a series of coincidental actions. But regardless, all their actions were chosen. Meh, just a theory and certainly not flawless I'm tired of typing though.
If you break apart the song by lines based on the first 4 verses/sections it is somewhat interesting. Here it is:
There are times that walk from you Like some passing afternoon There are things that drift away Like our endless numbered days There are sailing ships that pass All our bodies in the grass There are things we can't recall Blind as night that finds us all
These set the tone for that particular verse in my opinion all of course have to deal with how time passes us by and it being both odd how we remember various experiences throughout our lives and how we forget some.
Next section:
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made Springtime calls her children until she lets them go at last Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
These lines give an analogy for the breakdown of a life being like a year. Perhaps this is simply a comparison to the narrator's story/memory to a single year. It could also be simply the way the narrator remembers the woman being described in this song. It is possible that a series of events happened over a year but I don't think that is the case...
Next section:
And she chose a yard to burn But the ground remembers her And she's chosen to believe In the hymns her mother sings And she's chosen where to be Though she's lost her wedding ring But my hands remember hers Rolling around the shaded ferns
Informs the listener to the state of the woman in those parts of her life or during that "year".
Next section:
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned
All lines have something to do with the children in this song. Not all lines stand alone well particularly the last two but I think they are appropriate for my theory of breaking the song apart a bit. The lines still have to do with the children in relation to the narrator and the woman.
The last verse is taken separately.
There are names across the sea Only now I do believe Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me But she'll mend his tattered clothes And they'll kiss as if they know A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone
This is the reflection of the narrator. Based on this break down I think this song is about one or some combination of three things:
It seems extremely clear it is about a marriage that ended for some reason. Given the lines about children it almost seems like they had children then as the nest emptied the love between narrator and woman faded. The only problem I see with this is the last verse. When you take the song as a whole but keeping the breakdown of sections into consideration and tie in the last verse it almost seems like there was a happy marriage that had children in it or planned to be in it. Then as time passes for various reasons this relationship sours I think it is either due to the death of the child/children or even possibly an abortion.
It also seems clear that the second man (not the narrator) the woman ends up with knew both the narrator and woman. "They'll kiss as if they know a baby sleeps in all our bones..."
That all being said my last idea which is the one I lean closest to is the following: Narrator and woman are married, things are great, they have a kid or kids, they get divorced due to an affair on the part of the woman. It isn't that she is simply lusting after this other man that is presumably a friend of the family, but perhaps the man she loved and married isn't quite the same anymore or even simply the love they had has changed over time. A Bougainvillea is a flower that blooms all year obviously this could be a metaphor for an everlasting love but the woman's seems to have dried up. Maybe the kid leaves or is messed up from the divorce the ending of the song suggests that everyone understands that they all in various ways abandoned a child through perhaps a series of coincidental actions. But regardless, all their actions were chosen. Meh, just a theory and certainly not flawless I'm tired of typing though.