It's my favorite right now, too! Though that seems to shift every few days.
I just love the instrumentation and melodies, too... it's so gorgeous, and I 100% feel the same way about the last verse, and I don't know why, either! It feels kind of like an invitation to accept an ever-present belonging of some kind.
I'm confused by the place beyond the dawn, too, in terms of the action of this narrative... yeah, is it yesterday or tomorrow or? Though, it seems, we are in that narrative where time has gotten mucked up, where the only units of measurement relate to Space and not Time. ("Inches and Miles but not years.") I guess we would say before or after the dawn, but they have to say "beyond"... whatever that is? Or maybe it could just mean... more East than where we are? East-er?
If it is a metaphor for a transcendent or divine space, then why would the soldier be broken and seemingly in shock? The first lines bother me so much (as in intrigue/unsettle), it's such a beautiful beginning, musically, but the imagery is so jarring.
Ah, I love that line from Colleen! I think of it often when I stumble on steps.
(Also, I love your username, the impossible birds really are a through-line in her work, aren't they?) Yes, the dew! I love how all of that conjures up the freshness of a morning garden... And it does seem like the narration shifts a lot, right? Though it's hard to tell. I know Joanna keeps saying in interviews that she doesn't want to spoil anything by explaining it, but... sometimes, I totally want those Cliff Notes that she sent to her musician cohorts! I would be in love with her music without any analytical delving, but I do love that it rewards the delving by opening new realms to explore.
"Around every bend, I long to see/ Temporal infidelity" is one of my favorite lines, holy crap, how does she do it!