Flyleaf: In the Dark Meaning

In the Dark Lyrics

I've written songs (in the dark)
I've felt inspired (in the dark)
I hide myself (in the dark)
Used to be afraid (of the dark)
Those in the light know we die (in the dark)

There's only artificial light here
My flaws hide well here
I used...

1. anonymous

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   Apr 5th 2012 !⃝

   To me, this song is about someone hiding from the world (obviously expressed when she says "I hide myself (in the dark)")
   but it extends further than that, she is hiding from the truth and imperfections. In the silence, it is said, that the truth speaks loudest, hence she is afraid of silence, and tries to "fill this space" with "idle words", the noise hides fear.
   
   "Now I'm mute, despite myself
   All of them are gone
   The silence overtakes me
   The idle words forsake me and I am left to face me"
   
   This stanza suggests that the idle words were her way of hiding, running, and ultimately avoiding her truth, and so when she is mute, everything comes rushing in, like opening the flood gates, and she is "held accountable for every idle word"
   
   "Glory shows up, exposes us
   I'm naked here, forsaken here
   By the dark, by the dark"
   
   This stanza shows that she cannot truly hide, not even in the dark, at which point she begs Jesus to kill her, and grant her redemption in the form of resurrection (so she may walk the Earth again free from sin and guilt)
   
   TL:DR;
   This song is about hiding from yourself, and ultimately finding that you can't really hide at all, that no matter what, everything will catch up to you.
   
   I love it.
2. anonymous

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   Mar 6th 2012 !⃝

   The dark and the silence truly are tinghs that many now fear. Some years ago I worked in a museum that was dedicated to the life of the Venerable Bede. I was in charge of the education programme and part of the day's work we did with children was in the Saxon chancel of the church. There, we asked them to sit in silence for two minutes, to think of what they had learned of monastic life. It was rare we reached a whole minute without a growing sense of unease, of shuffling, of whispering.I have always loved the dark and the silence, which is why the winter solstice is my favourite time of year. Not just for its dark and its silence, but for the nascent qualities therein.It is in the dark that I work best as well, after everyone else has gone to bed. A small pool of light; paper; pencil; and I can dream words - which I suspect is related to the study you mention and to the experience you had.Perhaps a slower pace and a greater chance to live by the natural rhythms of the world would be a good thing for us all?
3. anonymous

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   Jan 25th 2012 !⃝

   I get the feeling it's about someone who has escaped an insane asylum, and when she says 'I'm naked here, forsaken here, by the dark, by the dark, damn the dark' is about being put back in a white room where there 'light and silence'.
   
   Dunno...
4. anonymous

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   Aug 10th 2011 !⃝

   I guess in this song Lacey is using light and dark to refer to when you are vulnerable and where you can hide yourself. When you are in the light, everyone can see you, you're exposed, like the part where she says: "glory shows up, exposes us", 'cause you get light on you when you're glorious.
   However, when you are in the dark you are hidden, you're dead, like she says "those in the light know we die", 'cause you were visible in the light, and in the dark everything that you have is only you, you're soul, your thoughts, that's the image people will get of you in the dark, not your body image.
   I also think she wants to say in this song that she's feeling better when there is only truth, in the dark, like she says at: "i've written songs in the dark, I've felt inspired in the dark, I hide myself in the dark". Before, she thought that your body image was what people really was, but then she saw that you can only see people completely and truly in the dark. And then she is passing through a reflection moment, she is having to face herself in the dark, to know her truly. She says too: "there's only artificial light here, my flaws hide well here", 'cause there is only lies, there is no truth, her flaws can be hidden there, where everything is a lie. And then she's distressed there, she wanna die and go with Jesus, her savior. She's distressed with the lies and the silence of not knowing the truth, "I'm scared to death of light and silence, Jesus kill me inside this, raise me up to live with you, like you did, lie you did".

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