No, the lyrics are correct, albeit seemingly abbreviated due to lack of repetition and speed. It is, indeed, about receiving a suicide's final letter. The lyric were written by Bruce Gilbert after seeing a peculiar carving or woodcut in which one hand passes a letter to another behind (betwixt?) the curtains of a window. He found it a very evocative piece, and so wrote this lyric, which is far more discernable in the original, slower version (see Behind The Curtain: Early Versions 1977-79).
No, the lyrics are correct, albeit seemingly abbreviated due to lack of repetition and speed. It is, indeed, about receiving a suicide's final letter. The lyric were written by Bruce Gilbert after seeing a peculiar carving or woodcut in which one hand passes a letter to another behind (betwixt?) the curtains of a window. He found it a very evocative piece, and so wrote this lyric, which is far more discernable in the original, slower version (see Behind The Curtain: Early Versions 1977-79).