Poison & Wine

The first time I heard this song it spoke to my heart. Everyone has their own interpretation, but this is mine based on personal experience:

(a little long, but bear with me)

1. "You only know what I want you to

2. I know everything you don't want me to"

3. He's saying that she only knows what he tells her and/or from what she sees.

4. When in reality, she isn't that naive and she finds out everything she doesn't want to know that hurts her; and everything he thinks he's hiding.

5. "Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine

6. You think your dreams are the same as mine"

7. Their lips are poison but at the same time it nourishes both of them. It's like having an addiction to something that is harmful to your health: it's bad for you, but you just can't stop.

8. As for the dreams being the same, she is saying that he thinks she doesn't have her own dreams. He thinks she is lost in him because she loves him so much that he IS her dream come true. But really, she has dreams of her own but sacrifices those for him because when you love someone you'd give up the world to be with them. She's not as weak as he thinks she is.

9. "I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back

10. The less I give the more I get back"

11. She wishes that when she acts like she doesn't care or that she's going to end the relationship and leave that he would chase after her. She wants him to prove that she's not holding on to nothing and that he will fight for her and their love.

12. He knows she is doing this and he doesn't react to it because he thinks she will always be there for him. He knows that she will always hold on to their love no matter what happens. The less he gives her and pulls away, the harder she fights to keep it together. Which in the end means he is always the one being pleased and always getting what he wants because of it. She wants to make him happy so he'll stay.

13. "Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise

14. I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you"

15. She's saying that when he hurts her he always comes back and fixes it; He heals the emotional wounds he caused. But just as much as he can heal her and save her from the pain, he also is the one that causes it. Therefore, he heals and bruises.

16. You cannot control your heart and who it decides to love. He's saying that even if he had the choice to pick anyone in the world to love, he would still choose her regardless of everything they go through.

17. "Oh, I don't love you, but I always will"

18. I saved this for last because I believe this lyric is the full meaning of the song. As much as they do not want to love each other, they can't help but do the complete opposite. They are forever ambivalent in their love with one another. They are unable to live without one another, but staying together is too painful; As much as they hate each other, they love each other that much more. It's an addicting type of love that they are unable to control. He manipulates her because he can and she deals with it because as hard as it is to be with him, it'd be even harder to be without.

"Unless it's mad, passionate, extraordinary love, it's a waste of your time. There are too many mediocre things in life. Love shouldn't be one of them."

• Unknown