Meadows of Heaven

Well, since no one else is going to comment, I will. This is one of the very few songs that makes me cry whenever I hear it. It seems to be about the things that you miss horribly but can never have back. Personally, though, it reminds me of my grandfather. He died a few years back, just before Christmas. Probably why the stanza beginning with 'Rocking chair without a dreamer' is so powerful for me.

Let's see... the first time I heard this song I thought it is about Childhood,too, like "For the heart I once had", and the "Meadows of Heaven" are only a symbol for the good things you live to see when you're young. So in the beginning the narrator closes his eyes and think of all the experiences he had in his childhood, than at "Dreambound for life" he realizes that he'll never having this feelings/experiences again and the flowers wither, the treasures stay hidden, but when he sees the first star falling, he can dream again... this theory is very simple but maybe support for the others, I don't think it's about love for a girl like loserkidsrock, but someway it's about things you miss but can never have back

I agree with LastoftheWilds. This is song is more about the experiences of childhood that never come back again. 'Dreambound for life'. Quite self-explanatory.

This song did make me cry, at:

"Rocking chair without a dreamer A wooden swing without laughter Sandbox without toy soldiers Yuletide without the Flight"

I'll always love Tuomas for this song. For ALL his songs.

I like how in the end it sort of goes into one of those Gospel Choirs. And Anette is doing one hell of a good job! Great voice.

Actual Lyrics:

I close my eyes The lantern dies The scent of awakening Wildhoney and dew

Childhood games Woods and lakes Streams of silver Toys of olden days

Meadows of heaven

The flowers of wonder And the hidden treasures In the meadow of life My acre of heaven A 5-year-old winterheart In a place called home Sailing the waves of past

Meadows of heaven

Rocking chair without a dreamer A wooden swing without laughter Sandbox without toy soldiers Yuletide without the Flight

Dreambound for life

Flowers wither, treasures stay hidden Until I see the 1st star of fall

I fall asleep And see it all: Mother`s care And color of the kites

Meadows of heaven

I think the "Memories of Childhood" pretty much sums up this song.

I think, personally, this is the best song on the CD, followed by "Bye, Bye Beautiful"

This song is so beatiful and i cant beleive more people havent commented on it! I agree with lastofthewilds, its about a lost childhood, how when we grow up we lose all the wonderful thigns we had when we were young, and now we can only dream of them, hence 'I fall asleep and see it all'. This is such a sad and beautiful song, it makes me cry =) Im not sure about the godpel at the end though, that spoils it for me slightly. However, agree with wormjuice that Anette really is doing the band justice =)

This song is believed to be about a Childhood Utopia.There are references to child memories, such as the lyrics ("Sandbox without toy soldiers.") Also the album illustration is of a farm house in a grassy meadow. It is the memory of the Childhood of someone who lived as a farmer and remembers the fields as "Meadows of Heaven", but has left the fields after their childhood.This is arguably the most passionate and emotional song on Dark Passion Play.It is also made reference to in "The Poet and the Pendulum", ("My home was there 'n then / Those meadows of heaven / Adventure-filled days / One with every smiling face"), perhaps the Poet (Tuomas Holopainen) being the one who is remembering the Childhood.This would make sense because, Tuomas, along with all of the members of Nightwish (except Marco Hietala and Anette Olzon) came from the rural village of Kitee, Finland.

Beautiful song

Of course it is about Tuomas. Most of his songs are personal, with him as the lyrical self. Only a few are fictional.

This song makes me cry, too. Though "The poet and the pendulum", "Eva" and "Bye, bye Beautiful" are great songs, for me this one is the very best of the whole album. It just touches me, and as i read from your comments, those of you who grasped it's meaning are touched, too. This is because there is a childhood-utopia in everyone. As a child everything is new and magical, but when we grow up we dont see things, but see again. We learn to thing in standards, and the magic is gone. Although i really try to keep the "child within me" alive, most of the things are no longer magical to me. And this is very, very sad to recognize.

I think that the child Tuomas so often mentions is an actual child, not a metaphor, a child that died, probably HIS child. In this song, the lines "a woodenswing without laughter" and "sandbox without toy soldiers" are the things he had dreamed about sharing with his child, then after their death, the things dont seem right anymore. The childs toys without the child, all the dreams and hopes he had for his child, all gone. I think Dead to the World and For the Heart I Once Had are about this child too. But I could of course but completely wrong