It's clear the person the narrator is talking about is struggling with their self-image: "The waves on the shore / Can't be ignored / Soon they're all around you" can be translated very simply as "you're drowning in your own negative thoughts, to the point where the only thing on your mind is your self-doubt".
Other people (friends? Family? Both?) have tried, and failed, to help, and they've now given up: "the cavalry's failed / They've all gone". But the person is "holding on", somehow, surviving through the turmoil, but that's not what they expected, or wanted, from life: "somehow is not what you asked for".
The narrator makes it clear in the chorus that they're their significant other: "Why do you cry in the morning / When the light is just forming". They wake up, alone together, at every dawn, with the subject crying in their despair. The narrator helps as much as they can, but they're struggling to get through, since the significant other thinks they're just doing it out of a sense of duty: "I know you think I'm just carrying on". But they're not. They've been in the same place, mentally: "I've been where you're going"; and they know this person doesn't deserve to do the same: "and it's not worth knowing", wasting days in their current state of mind: "burning the days and just carrying on".
Everything keeps building, though, with every thought sowing seeds into more and more, though they're trying to find a way to stop the pain: "you search for the way / to harvest the pain / but fallout is contagious". The narrator knows this, and knows that, hard as they try, this person can't do it. Not on their own, at least. "Knowing your head / No control / Of what you let go".
Part of the problem is their expectations, as they clearly idealize what their life should be, and can't accept any less, even if some moments do fulfill all their desires: "Sometimes / It's no what you dreamed of".
The bridge uses the old line: "I've forgotten more than you'll ever know" to demonstrate that, though this person thinks they know everything about themselves, they really need to step back, and actually realize that they don't understand themselves at all: "After all that you've forgotten / You still don't understand". They blame life, the world, everything around them, for failing to reach their expectations, when really, there's nothing to blame. Everything just is what it is, and not just accepting that is ruining their life: "you think the world broke its promise / but it just slipped right through your hands".
The last verse almost seems like it takes the figurative sense in the first verse, and turns it literal: "the waves on the shore / Can't be ignored / Soon they're all around you..."
It's clear the person the narrator is talking about is struggling with their self-image: "The waves on the shore / Can't be ignored / Soon they're all around you" can be translated very simply as "you're drowning in your own negative thoughts, to the point where the only thing on your mind is your self-doubt".
Other people (friends? Family? Both?) have tried, and failed, to help, and they've now given up: "the cavalry's failed / They've all gone". But the person is "holding on", somehow, surviving through the turmoil, but that's not what they expected, or wanted, from life: "somehow is not what you asked for".
The narrator makes it clear in the chorus that they're their significant other: "Why do you cry in the morning / When the light is just forming". They wake up, alone together, at every dawn, with the subject crying in their despair. The narrator helps as much as they can, but they're struggling to get through, since the significant other thinks they're just doing it out of a sense of duty: "I know you think I'm just carrying on". But they're not. They've been in the same place, mentally: "I've been where you're going"; and they know this person doesn't deserve to do the same: "and it's not worth knowing", wasting days in their current state of mind: "burning the days and just carrying on".
Everything keeps building, though, with every thought sowing seeds into more and more, though they're trying to find a way to stop the pain: "you search for the way / to harvest the pain / but fallout is contagious". The narrator knows this, and knows that, hard as they try, this person can't do it. Not on their own, at least. "Knowing your head / No control / Of what you let go".
Part of the problem is their expectations, as they clearly idealize what their life should be, and can't accept any less, even if some moments do fulfill all their desires: "Sometimes / It's no what you dreamed of".
The bridge uses the old line: "I've forgotten more than you'll ever know" to demonstrate that, though this person thinks they know everything about themselves, they really need to step back, and actually realize that they don't understand themselves at all: "After all that you've forgotten / You still don't understand". They blame life, the world, everything around them, for failing to reach their expectations, when really, there's nothing to blame. Everything just is what it is, and not just accepting that is ruining their life: "you think the world broke its promise / but it just slipped right through your hands".
The last verse almost seems like it takes the figurative sense in the first verse, and turns it literal: "the waves on the shore / Can't be ignored / Soon they're all around you..."