I am an English teacher and once i used this in the lecture and tranlated word by word and students were almost cried they mentioned that "this song is very touchy" eventhough they didnt know that was opeth they thought that was an ordinary song.
Long days
Slow waste
Sew lies
Sow hate
(here he is in the prison and time doesnt pass and he is being wasted slowly)
So many years to clean the slate
Endless despair within its wake
His touch soiling what used to be clean
His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams
(clean the slate refers the story (one father and one son..and son always breaks his friends hearth and day father wants to give lesson to his son and gives hundreds of nails and says" when you break someones hearth nail to slate" and when son has nailed 100 times to slate as a result of 100 heartbreaking he comes to see father again. Father asks to take the nails out and he starts immediately. But there are 100 holes on the slate. So followingly he tries to clean to slate but he discovers holes are still there. Saying that" so many years to clean to slate" refers that i think.)
His touch soiling what used to be clean (again same story breaking hearts killing people, the reason of going to prison.... so he is fulled with dirt and when he touched something he soils.
His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams
(he is prison so behind the fence he is looking)
No more
Cold pace
Slow days (?)
(here he decides to kill him self no more steps he puts forward no more cold steps)
And again he rides in
It's September and he covets the gullible
Skeletal wish, hunter
A thousand lies
Cast from the throne of secrecy
(he captured in september(autumn) and in the prison he covets he gullible people in the daily life with dying wish but in the end he realizes eveything is lie. And there are no people to talk to he keeps all secrets to himself.
Hear him spewing forth a meaning to miserables lies
See the twisted hand of doubt seal the affair
The insect trust, believer
Your body a vehicle to
(behind the fences he is loosing his mind and speaks by himself, because of dirt, everywhere fullfilledd with insect)
Pearls before swine they are nothing but blind
Submit to nothing and swallow my spit of scorn
Invisible king, dying
Procession of woe, struck down by sorrow
(again here some paraphrasings from bible and thoughts in the prison)
A burden so great
Weighs heavy on old and withered beliefs
The swift solution crumbles
Beneath the mock notes of a masterpiece
Death in his eyes, waiting
Spiraling judgement, provoked in the rains
(here burden is something that he made wrong before and the reason he is in prison now, He knows he is going to be killed, executed...death judgement already been given. And he is waiting inside the cell while raining)
This futile test drowned in the levee of deception
( here he thinks he is in prison unjustly but he knows there is no escape..he know he is fooling himself)
In the year of his sovereign
Rid us of your judgement
Heir apparent
in the last stanza writer mentions that the times when he was free he did everything he wished as if he was a HEIR APPARENT.
I am an English teacher and once i used this in the lecture and tranlated word by word and students were almost cried they mentioned that "this song is very touchy" eventhough they didnt know that was opeth they thought that was an ordinary song.
Long days Slow waste Sew lies Sow hate
(here he is in the prison and time doesnt pass and he is being wasted slowly)
So many years to clean the slate Endless despair within its wake His touch soiling what used to be clean His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams
(clean the slate refers the story (one father and one son..and son always breaks his friends hearth and day father wants to give lesson to his son and gives hundreds of nails and says" when you break someones hearth nail to slate" and when son has nailed 100 times to slate as a result of 100 heartbreaking he comes to see father again. Father asks to take the nails out and he starts immediately. But there are 100 holes on the slate. So followingly he tries to clean to slate but he discovers holes are still there. Saying that" so many years to clean to slate" refers that i think.)
His touch soiling what used to be clean (again same story breaking hearts killing people, the reason of going to prison.... so he is fulled with dirt and when he touched something he soils.
His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams
(he is prison so behind the fence he is looking)
No more Cold pace Slow days (?)
(here he decides to kill him self no more steps he puts forward no more cold steps)
And again he rides in It's September and he covets the gullible Skeletal wish, hunter A thousand lies Cast from the throne of secrecy
(he captured in september(autumn) and in the prison he covets he gullible people in the daily life with dying wish but in the end he realizes eveything is lie. And there are no people to talk to he keeps all secrets to himself.
Hear him spewing forth a meaning to miserables lies See the twisted hand of doubt seal the affair The insect trust, believer Your body a vehicle to
(behind the fences he is loosing his mind and speaks by himself, because of dirt, everywhere fullfilledd with insect)
Pearls before swine they are nothing but blind Submit to nothing and swallow my spit of scorn Invisible king, dying Procession of woe, struck down by sorrow
(again here some paraphrasings from bible and thoughts in the prison)
A burden so great Weighs heavy on old and withered beliefs The swift solution crumbles Beneath the mock notes of a masterpiece Death in his eyes, waiting Spiraling judgement, provoked in the rains
(here burden is something that he made wrong before and the reason he is in prison now, He knows he is going to be killed, executed...death judgement already been given. And he is waiting inside the cell while raining)
This futile test drowned in the levee of deception
( here he thinks he is in prison unjustly but he knows there is no escape..he know he is fooling himself)
In the year of his sovereign Rid us of your judgement Heir apparent
in the last stanza writer mentions that the times when he was free he did everything he wished as if he was a HEIR APPARENT.
@Warmaster an interesting interpretation
@Warmaster an interesting interpretation