Lyric discussion by shoefly785 

i may be completely wrong, but i took this song to be about a group of guys who are close friends with a girl and in this case, the guy or all of the guys start to develop feelings for this girl but she doesn't feel the same way about them. but because of this, things get awkward and the girl starts separating herself from the group of guy friends without really dealing with the problem ("whats it gonna cost to be gone? when we start seeing you like i hope we never would") Kinda saying they never meant to develop feelings for her but it was a natural transition from them seeing her as a friend to seeing her as something more. Hence the line "eyes can't look at you any other way" just emphasizing that he can't control the way he feels. and at the end of the song, he knows their friendship is over and maybe she didn't let him down gently enough so he gives this song as a lesson to "be careful and watch how you treat every living soul" so maybe she'll be more empathetic with the next heart she breaks.

again, i may be very wrong.

Whether or not this is the intended meaning of the song, this is exactly how I interpreted it as well. In this song I hear longing, unrequited love, and loneliness. I also hear a quiet acceptance and understanding. I think the situation you described fits perfectly with the lyrics of the song. I imagine that the girl is a close friend with the speaker, and loves him platonically, but doesn’t see him the way he sees her. The lyric, “And say you're at a loss or forgot that words can do more than harm” describes the guy’s confession of love,...

@shoefly785 I know you are right. The woman I love lost her fiancé at sea. She was lost. My work force me to relocate to this same place. We met through my work and ended up intimate. I was the opposite of him. I got sick with a recurring ailment that makes me feel lost at sea. It’s a relationship hurdle and rapidly changed the dynamic and she still loves him. I would have always been second to him. That’s something I would never be or be to someone. So we are floating as friends as neither one of us...

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