The entire song takes place in a recurrent dream (more precisely, a nightmare.) The dreamer is searching, trying to discover some meaning in this. The "old memories" could mean that the dream is rooted in some repressed, traumatic event from his past.
He hears the the distorted laughter of familiar children -- they seem to be dead. He sees his reflection in a pool of water; he is covered with "rotten earth and insects", like he's been dead and buried.
"Bleeding animals in a field of fire" -- some serial killers started out with things like torturing and killing animals or starting fires before they moved on to killing people. This could be the dream of a serial killer. It would explain how tortured his mind is to have these tormenting nightmares.
In the end, the morning comes and he wakes up.
If this is a concept album, this could connect with the next song, Deliverance, which seems to center around the character drowning someone.
The entire song takes place in a recurrent dream (more precisely, a nightmare.) The dreamer is searching, trying to discover some meaning in this. The "old memories" could mean that the dream is rooted in some repressed, traumatic event from his past.
He hears the the distorted laughter of familiar children -- they seem to be dead. He sees his reflection in a pool of water; he is covered with "rotten earth and insects", like he's been dead and buried.
"Bleeding animals in a field of fire" -- some serial killers started out with things like torturing and killing animals or starting fires before they moved on to killing people. This could be the dream of a serial killer. It would explain how tortured his mind is to have these tormenting nightmares.
In the end, the morning comes and he wakes up.
If this is a concept album, this could connect with the next song, Deliverance, which seems to center around the character drowning someone.