"Life is a clay urn on the mantle
And I am shattered on the floor"
That's pretty much my favorite metaphor in a song. The urn in which life is said to be is made out of clay, as any form of life is very vulnerable to be destroyed or injured. It dwells in an urn as it is doomed to have an inevitable end. And finally, the urn is on a mantle because all living things dwell in the 'temple' of Earth, which is regarded as a precious think, something that must be taken care of, just like a mantle that is usually correlated to valuable things. When the person says that is shattered on the floor, I presume that she has died on the inside, no longer having interest in living.
John Haughn shows his expertise as a lyricist in many ways, but I've found one that might be worth pointing out: He uses 4 synonyms for a word in the phrase after "Life is a clay urn on the mantle": shattered, scattered, fragments and ashes. To me it underlines his cautious work writing, putting a lot of thought into them,
"We are the wounds and the great cold death of the Earth."
The message it basically wants to convey is that we - humans - are the ones responsible for Earth's decay, dysharmony and gradual destruction. We shouldn't inhabit this land, we don't belong here.
"Earth is floating on the waters like an island,
Hanging from four rawhide ropes"
Once again, our planet is perceived as fragile, it can easily be swallowed in the depths of death - so to speak-. (It is just suspended by 4 ropes)
"Darkness and silence, the light shall flicker out"
By this moment, Earth is approaching its end and the album meets its demise. (Desolation Song is outside the structure, it's just there as a bonus if you will. That, however, doesn't make it any worse than all the others in this Magnum Opus - The Mantle.)
"Life is a clay urn on the mantle And I am shattered on the floor"
That's pretty much my favorite metaphor in a song. The urn in which life is said to be is made out of clay, as any form of life is very vulnerable to be destroyed or injured. It dwells in an urn as it is doomed to have an inevitable end. And finally, the urn is on a mantle because all living things dwell in the 'temple' of Earth, which is regarded as a precious think, something that must be taken care of, just like a mantle that is usually correlated to valuable things. When the person says that is shattered on the floor, I presume that she has died on the inside, no longer having interest in living.
John Haughn shows his expertise as a lyricist in many ways, but I've found one that might be worth pointing out: He uses 4 synonyms for a word in the phrase after "Life is a clay urn on the mantle": shattered, scattered, fragments and ashes. To me it underlines his cautious work writing, putting a lot of thought into them,
"We are the wounds and the great cold death of the Earth."
The message it basically wants to convey is that we - humans - are the ones responsible for Earth's decay, dysharmony and gradual destruction. We shouldn't inhabit this land, we don't belong here.
"Earth is floating on the waters like an island, Hanging from four rawhide ropes"
Once again, our planet is perceived as fragile, it can easily be swallowed in the depths of death - so to speak-. (It is just suspended by 4 ropes)
"Darkness and silence, the light shall flicker out"
By this moment, Earth is approaching its end and the album meets its demise. (Desolation Song is outside the structure, it's just there as a bonus if you will. That, however, doesn't make it any worse than all the others in this Magnum Opus - The Mantle.)