"We fell in love, with dust in our lids
And the pain of a severed soul "
This makes me think more of soul mates and a wedding but as others have mentioned is more likely to be one's relationship with God. He goes on to describe this relationship.
" We lowered our heads and lifted our face
Placed our bodies in celebration "
This seems like a somewhat abstract, if you will, description of prayer or worshipping. As I recall one would lower their heads to pray and sometimes lift their face (or gaze) as they are praying intensely for something. Placing our bodies in celebration makes me think more of a religious ceremony or at least where one would kneel down to pray. Trying to show that the worshiper is humble to an extent.
"On the lips of a mutilated man"
One of the worshipers is whispering or mouthing (hence on the lips) prayers. The worshiper(s) is the mutilated man of which he sings. Mutilated perhaps by another man's or their own cruelty, wikedness, hate, or despair. Mutilated more in the emotional sense than in the phisical sense. Damaged and tortured mentally rather than physically.
"I carry the bones of a deformed child"
Note that it is spoken in a distinct and different voice than the previous lyrics. This indicates to me that it must be God or Jesus that are speaking. They cary the bones, the remains of a twisted, damaged, and cruel humanity; all of man-kind is a deformed child.
"And my own polluted breath
I speak the old man's words "
Back to the narrator or worshiper. He speaks God's words, but in a manner that is unclear and perhaps tarnished by his speaking them (hence poluted). " In a persuasive eloquence " Perhaps what he speaks are not really God's words but a lie, his interpretation and use of these words and God as he so desires. A priest that speaks the gospel but of course adds his own interpretation often for his own needs. The worshiper at least admits that his words are far from those of God and God's Truth, in a humbled way at first (poluted breath) and later in a sarcastic way (persuasive eloquence). He can convince people to follow him and his interpretation of God's Truth.
" Bless the dust that hides
This unlamented head "
Again with a bit of sarcasm he thanks what hides the Truth and prevents his lies from being seen as lies. As he used dust in the first line he defines what he means by dust and requests that we reinterpret the first verse of the song. "with dust in our lids", hence we could not see clearly the Truth, we could not have a close enough relationship with God. We can only have that which is open to interpretation and being tarnished. The dust prevents us from understanding God's plan and what he wants of us. The unlamented head speaks of God/Jesus. Unlamented because no one realizes that they are tarnishing His Truth and those that do might even be against lamenting the loss and misunderstanding God must feel.
"On the crest of fire, our wings are burning
How glorious the pain "
This makes me think far more of funeral pires and which burnings. Wherein the populace believes burning will clense the souls and remove the evil. The narator was likely well regarded until others turned against him and saw the lies he spoke. So now they burn him, as they believe he is the devil or his words are from the devil himself.
" And the ways of God, shriek out of tune "
This is a statement that those who accused and endorsed which burnings were very wrong. They used the will and way of God to appease their own fear, interests, or needs. Hence the way that man-kind is going spiritually seems completely wrong and is still to this day not the way of God (but I might add perhaps a bit better than witch burnings).
" All is lost but hope "
Hope that perhaps we will meet God in the afterlife and be able to understand God's Truth and message, rather than have it openly interpreted. Hope that perhaps humanity will learn from this and better themselves. Perhaps the ways of God will come back in tune.
"To the wind's anthem "
The wind is chaotic but strong. So the are burning to a tune that is chaotic and unpredictable yet very powerful. One might even say that the wind is the anti-thesis to God's tune (above).
Overall it is the story of a religious figure who was burned, whether rightly or wrongly, for misrepresenting the Truth of God.
"We fell in love, with dust in our lids And the pain of a severed soul " This makes me think more of soul mates and a wedding but as others have mentioned is more likely to be one's relationship with God. He goes on to describe this relationship.
" We lowered our heads and lifted our face Placed our bodies in celebration " This seems like a somewhat abstract, if you will, description of prayer or worshipping. As I recall one would lower their heads to pray and sometimes lift their face (or gaze) as they are praying intensely for something. Placing our bodies in celebration makes me think more of a religious ceremony or at least where one would kneel down to pray. Trying to show that the worshiper is humble to an extent.
"On the lips of a mutilated man" One of the worshipers is whispering or mouthing (hence on the lips) prayers. The worshiper(s) is the mutilated man of which he sings. Mutilated perhaps by another man's or their own cruelty, wikedness, hate, or despair. Mutilated more in the emotional sense than in the phisical sense. Damaged and tortured mentally rather than physically.
"I carry the bones of a deformed child" Note that it is spoken in a distinct and different voice than the previous lyrics. This indicates to me that it must be God or Jesus that are speaking. They cary the bones, the remains of a twisted, damaged, and cruel humanity; all of man-kind is a deformed child.
"And my own polluted breath I speak the old man's words " Back to the narrator or worshiper. He speaks God's words, but in a manner that is unclear and perhaps tarnished by his speaking them (hence poluted). " In a persuasive eloquence " Perhaps what he speaks are not really God's words but a lie, his interpretation and use of these words and God as he so desires. A priest that speaks the gospel but of course adds his own interpretation often for his own needs. The worshiper at least admits that his words are far from those of God and God's Truth, in a humbled way at first (poluted breath) and later in a sarcastic way (persuasive eloquence). He can convince people to follow him and his interpretation of God's Truth.
" Bless the dust that hides This unlamented head " Again with a bit of sarcasm he thanks what hides the Truth and prevents his lies from being seen as lies. As he used dust in the first line he defines what he means by dust and requests that we reinterpret the first verse of the song. "with dust in our lids", hence we could not see clearly the Truth, we could not have a close enough relationship with God. We can only have that which is open to interpretation and being tarnished. The dust prevents us from understanding God's plan and what he wants of us. The unlamented head speaks of God/Jesus. Unlamented because no one realizes that they are tarnishing His Truth and those that do might even be against lamenting the loss and misunderstanding God must feel.
"On the crest of fire, our wings are burning How glorious the pain " This makes me think far more of funeral pires and which burnings. Wherein the populace believes burning will clense the souls and remove the evil. The narator was likely well regarded until others turned against him and saw the lies he spoke. So now they burn him, as they believe he is the devil or his words are from the devil himself.
" And the ways of God, shriek out of tune " This is a statement that those who accused and endorsed which burnings were very wrong. They used the will and way of God to appease their own fear, interests, or needs. Hence the way that man-kind is going spiritually seems completely wrong and is still to this day not the way of God (but I might add perhaps a bit better than witch burnings).
" All is lost but hope " Hope that perhaps we will meet God in the afterlife and be able to understand God's Truth and message, rather than have it openly interpreted. Hope that perhaps humanity will learn from this and better themselves. Perhaps the ways of God will come back in tune.
"To the wind's anthem " The wind is chaotic but strong. So the are burning to a tune that is chaotic and unpredictable yet very powerful. One might even say that the wind is the anti-thesis to God's tune (above).
Overall it is the story of a religious figure who was burned, whether rightly or wrongly, for misrepresenting the Truth of God.
"All is lost but hope"