This song is about a relationship where one person has fallen out of love and wants to move on, while the other remains heavily attached to the partner: "I love you more than I".
This relationship was founded on unrequited love, where the lover has strong feelings for the loved, but the loved does not reciprocate these feelings back. Possibly they agreed to try to sort the relationship out ("we had a deal that you would try... now that's a lie"), but after realizing that a relationship cannot live when only one half is in love, the lover decides to "draw the line", meaning, despite it being painful and not what they want, to break up with the loved one, as if they kept the relationship going (keeping her 'caged') it would "just delay the spring"; i.e. when the metaphorical 'bird' would fly away towards a new home.
In the end, the loved is left with an 'empty cage', but can find some comfort in the idea that when someone leaves you, they were 'never meant to stay' - meaning that, despite the pain, perhaps many relationships were never meant to work out (for whatever reasons) in the long run.
This song is about a relationship where one person has fallen out of love and wants to move on, while the other remains heavily attached to the partner: "I love you more than I".
This relationship was founded on unrequited love, where the lover has strong feelings for the loved, but the loved does not reciprocate these feelings back. Possibly they agreed to try to sort the relationship out ("we had a deal that you would try... now that's a lie"), but after realizing that a relationship cannot live when only one half is in love, the lover decides to "draw the line", meaning, despite it being painful and not what they want, to break up with the loved one, as if they kept the relationship going (keeping her 'caged') it would "just delay the spring"; i.e. when the metaphorical 'bird' would fly away towards a new home.
In the end, the loved is left with an 'empty cage', but can find some comfort in the idea that when someone leaves you, they were 'never meant to stay' - meaning that, despite the pain, perhaps many relationships were never meant to work out (for whatever reasons) in the long run.
A beautiful song rich with metaphoric imagery.