Waking Up

Somethin' filled up
my heart with nothin'
someone told me not to cry.

These are the first three lines of the song "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire. Looking at it as poetry without the musical component has proved to be difficult, but I purposely chose a song with meaningful lyrics for this week's entry. And with songs like this, there are a million ways the words can be interpreted...

I think that these three particular (first) lines are referring to- in some way- the reaction of humans when they are caught off gaurd. Like an unexpected death. The nothingness that fills you, the empty, broken place in your heart. Filling up with nothing is the same as having everything cruelly sucked away. Someone tells you not to cry. To rise above. But all at once, you wonder how you could cry when all you have is the nothingness, and at the same time how you couldn't.

But now that I'm older,
my heart's colder,
and I know that it's a lie.

The time that goes by after something like this causes your heart to fill with something. In order to survive, we can't be empty. An empty heart is an empty person.

So coldness swirls in, if we find nothing else. Hate; hate for life, and love, and everything beautiful about it. Because you've lost something, so why should everyone else be rewarded with the beautiful things? You grow up from that, coming to believe that the world has mislead you. You've been lied to, pushed around and forced by thise who were once in control o you that you had to get over it and you would. But you didn't. It changed you in ways you never wanted.

Children wake up,
hold your mistake up,
before they turn the summer into dust...

This might not necessarily be speaking out just towards "children"- it could mean anyone who inexperienced with that. The speaker is basically telling them to fix their mistakes, but also to get over whatever happens while they still can. Because at some point it becomes impossible, and it leaves a scar on you; it takes away your "childhood," which could be literal in the case of actually children but will vary depending on who is being spoken to. It could just mean taking away the joy in whatever period of time they're in.

Also, summer is like the time when children let go- free of school, many free to do what they want. Most kids look forward to it. It can be seen as their happy period of time.

Before they turn the summer into dust.

Before something takes away that happiness.

If "Wake Up" is read like a poem, then each stanza has its own meaning. But they all connect into one. There are many more stanzas (or sections) of it, but the general message is portrayed in just the first few. I could go on with every one, but I get at this point. Don't hold grudges. Don't hold onto everything. Or you'll lose a lot more than what you did originally- possibly your happiness, your warmth, and yourself.

In two words, what Arcade Fire is trying to tell us- us "children" especially: let go.