These Days

The speaker looks back on missed chances and lost relationships, while trying to keep moving forward. The mood is quiet and regretful: he says less, thinks more, and seems wary of being hurt again. Yet there is a small note of hope in the belief that things may improve someday, even though the ending returns to painful memories.

Several images suggest how he is coping. Walking alone can imply reflection or an attempt to clear his mind. “Risk another” means opening himself to a new relationship despite the possibility of getting hurt. Sitting on “corner stones” and counting time in “quarter tones” is an unusual, possibly musical image: it may suggest waiting, passing time, or turning life into measured notes. The phrase “the life that I have made in song” connects his creative work with the life he has lived, without explaining exactly how they differ.

The lyrics do not settle whether the speaker has truly accepted his past. He keeps moving and expects improvement, but asks not to be confronted with his failures because he has not forgotten them. This could show that he wants space rather than denial: he knows what went wrong, yet is still struggling to carry those memories.