So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Speak through the silence
Lay down your crown
Lay down your fight
And when you speak
The words of silence
Walls will crumble in
And skies open
And when you speak
You speak with silence, and I
Carve each word you sing
On my stone wings
And the light will pour in
The fires are burning, under starlight
Through veils of golden light
The sails so pure, so white
Through the river of death
I carry you, my love
Breathe in the night
My arms alight
And when you speak
The words of silence
Walls will crumble in
And skies open
And when you speak
You speak with silence, and I
Carve each word you sing
On my stone wings
And the light will pour in now
I threw this iron crown
Into the eye of inferno
This lake of fire, this pit of ghosts
Breathing in the dark
Exhaling the dust of stars
In this shrine of silver light
On the edge of the moon, you sing to me
The river flows deep
Through my heart and through my eyes
As you turn into the light
The dust of silver stars
And then you speak
The words of silence
Walls will crumble in
And skies open
And when you speak
You speak with silence, and I
Carve each word you sing
On my stone wings
And the light will pour in
Carve each word you sing
On my stone wings now
Lay down your crown
Lay down your fight
And when you speak
The words of silence
Walls will crumble in
And skies open
And when you speak
You speak with silence, and I
Carve each word you sing
On my stone wings
And the light will pour in
The fires are burning, under starlight
Through veils of golden light
The sails so pure, so white
Through the river of death
I carry you, my love
Breathe in the night
My arms alight
And when you speak
The words of silence
Walls will crumble in
And skies open
And when you speak
You speak with silence, and I
Carve each word you sing
On my stone wings
And the light will pour in now
I threw this iron crown
Into the eye of inferno
This lake of fire, this pit of ghosts
Breathing in the dark
Exhaling the dust of stars
In this shrine of silver light
On the edge of the moon, you sing to me
The river flows deep
Through my heart and through my eyes
As you turn into the light
The dust of silver stars
And then you speak
The words of silence
Walls will crumble in
And skies open
And when you speak
You speak with silence, and I
Carve each word you sing
On my stone wings
And the light will pour in
Carve each word you sing
On my stone wings now
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
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I think this is about having lost someone who was so closely connected to you that they still speak to you & through you even though they have passed on to the next world.