Lyric discussion by Disposition_987 

Cover art for Serenity Painted Death lyrics by Opeth

This is chapter 6 in the "Still Life" story. Still Life is a concept album that tells a story. The previous chapters told of how this man was banished from his hometown because of his lack of faith. He won't ever forgive the people that abandoned him, but he has returned to confront the one girl he loves, Melinda. In the previous "chapter", "The Face of Melinda", he confronts her. However, he learns that she has become married.

"Endlessly gazing in nocturnal prime She spoke of her vices and broke the rhyme But baffled herself with the final line My promise is made but my heart is thine"

In this passage at the end of "The Face of Melinda", Melinda states that she is married but her heart belongs to the man who has returned. And this passage from "Serenity Painted Death"-

"Returned from a hibernal dream Voices fell like marble No longer by my side Gone all that would linger

Ripped from my embrace Melinda reflected in shafts Red line round her neck Met the earth in silence"

I believe that Melinda has just commited suicide because she is married to someone she doesn't truly love. The narrator then goes into a state of anger and vows to kill all of the people who had banished him. Which leads to chapter 7, "White Cluster"...

Disposition, you're a bit off. Melinda isn't married. She became a nun. In "Face of Melinda" it says "A harlot of God upon the earth" and "I took her by the hand to say All faith forever has been washed away".

In this song, the Council of the Cross (Christian gov't) kills Melinda because she is with a nonbeliever. She didn't commit suicide. And in "White Cluster", the Council hangs him.

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