Passing Afternoon (Poetry Blog #12)

So, this blog I decided to interpret song lyrics. I chose Passing Afternoon by Iron & Wine. The lyricist for this band, Sam Beam, although a little melancholy with his song, really writes great poetic imagery for his lyrics.

There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon
And she chose a yard to burn but the ground remembers her
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms

There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made
And she's chosen to believe in the hymns her mother sings
Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves

There are sailing ships that pass all our bodies in the grass
Springtime calls her children 'till she let's them go at last
And she's chosen where to be, though she's lost her wedding ring
Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds

There are things we can't recall, blind as night that finds us all
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
But my hands remember hers, rolling 'round the shaded ferns
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned

There are names across the sea, only now I do believe
Sometimes, with the windows closed, she'll sit and think of me
But she'll mend his tattered clothes and they'll kiss as if they know
Her baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone

So, I think that this song is very personal or it is a story, but from what I understood, it is about lost love. I think that the women he loved married someone else even though she was in love with him.

One of my favorite parts in this song is when the lyrics all go through the seasons from Summer-Fall-Winter, but never to Spring. Like i said, Sam Beam is very melancholy.

Anyway, this is what I interpreted:
1st Stanza- She was married and had kids and is fine
2nd Stanza- She is losing hope and is becoming a little scattered but "believe[s] in the hymns her mother sings" and what she thinks is right and what she should do.
3rd Stanza- Her children get older and they leave, and she loses faith in her marriage and leaves it in her memories when everything was good.
4th Stanza- She forgets her love for the narrator while she cares for her kids and keeps herself busy, but he never forgets her.
5th Stanza- Now when he is older and thinks about it, she probably thinks about him, but she goes back to her marriage and puts it in the past.
and.........I have no idea what the last line means.....hahah