Lover's Eyes

Mumford & Sons' song 'Lover's Eyes' delves deep into the complexities and emotional turmoil of love that has turned sour. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of a love that was once kind but has now become a source of pain and blindness. The opening lines, 'Love was kind for a time / Now just aches and it makes me blind,' set the tone for a narrative of lost love and the emotional scars it leaves behind. The mirror metaphor suggests self-reflection and the difficulty of seeing beyond one's own pain to recognize others in one's life.

The song explores themes of youth and the overwhelming nature of intense emotions. The lines 'Were we too young? And heads too strong? / To bear the weight of these lover's eyes' question whether the lovers were too inexperienced or stubborn to handle the depth of their feelings. The recurring phrase 'beneath the curse of these lover's eyes' implies that the love they shared has become a burden, a curse that the narrator cannot escape. This curse is further emphasized by the narrator's numbness and the quiet rage they must live with, as well as the ghosts in their head that wish them dead.

The song also touches on the futility of seeking solace in external substances, as the narrator admits, 'Cause there's no drink or drug I've tried / To rid the curse of these lover's eyes.' The repeated plea for forgiveness and the desire to die 'neath the curse of my lover's eyes' highlight the depth of the narrator's despair. However, the song ends on a somewhat hopeful note with the repeated lines 'And I'll walk slow, I'll walk slow / Take my hand, help me on my way,' suggesting a slow, painful journey towards healing and moving on from the past.