What does Hymn for the Missing mean?

Red: Hymn for the Missing Meaning

Album cover for Hymn for the Missing album cover

Hymn for the Missing Lyrics

Tried to walk together
But the night was growing dark

Thought you were beside me
but I reached and you were gone

Sometimes I hear you calling
From some lost and distant shore

I hear you crying softly for the
Way it was...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 14th 2014 !⃝

    I think that someone is thinking about a partner who recently died.

    "Thought you were beside me, but I reached and you were gone" refers to it being very recent and sudden.

    "Where are you now? Are you lost?" = you don't know where your soul/spirit goes when you die.

    "Will I see you again?" = if he dies will he see the one he cared so much about again?

    "Are you alone? Are you afraid?" =
    some people think of death as an endless blackness.

    "Why did you go? I had to stay" = she died but he didn't.

    "Now I'm reaching for you" = he might be thinking of killing himself, or he could be refering to the fact that he is getting older and will eventually join her in death.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 23rd 2011 !⃝

    My view is God talking to a lost soul, and how he struggles trying to get us closer to Him. He wonders why people give into temptations and begin to turn away for things that He knows are worthless. If you look at that way, it makes a lot of sense, but knowing the lyricists of this song, it has a multitude of meanings, that's one that just stuck out.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 16th 2013 !⃝

    I think it's about being cut off from a loved one in any way-- a family member dies, a friend moves to Africa, two lovers are forbidden to be together, a lost soul renounces Jesus, you get the picture.

  4. anonymous
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    Aug 27th 2023 !⃝

    At the time, I was introduce to this song, I had written two songs about " human trafficking ". It moved me so even though some of the lyrics don't line up to the subject, this is what I think of.
    The last part of the song where it sounds like children singing moves me to tears. The lost, that have no voice. Very powerful song regardless. All the interpretations are good.

  5. anonymous
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    Nov 22nd 2020 !⃝

    This song never really touched me until I went through a divorce two years ago. This song hit me hard and I wept. Not because of my ex wife but the kids. I couldn't imagine living through a divorce as a child. My oldest, 10 at the time, took it hard, to a point I didn't recognize him anymore. It took a year before our relationship improved to the same point it was before.

  6. anonymous
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    Jan 27th 2018 !⃝

    I think this song is very sad and I cry every time I hear it.I think this song means someone who he lost at a young age and now he's talking about living his life alone with out her and when he says"will you wait"he could be asking her to wait for him so he could be with her again so they can be back with each other again and finally see each other.

  7. anonymous
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    May 3rd 2017 !⃝

    This song is a sad song.

    Sorry to hear about your mom.

    Even though you lost her to Alzheimer's. The first two questions, it's hard to answer. But there is a reason. I believe deep inside her soul, she was searching for you while she was looking in your eyes and face. And she was alone and afraid in her head, she lost the ability to express herself due to her condition.

    Unknown

  8. anonymous
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    May 2nd 2017 !⃝

    I recently lost my mom to Alzheimer's. My interpretation is being lost in her own mind. She was missing I wondered if I'd ever find her again. Why her? Why did she have go and I had to stay? I reached for her and she was gone..her being, her personality was gone. Was she searching for me, while she was looking into my eyes, at my face? Was she alone and afraid in her head?? All the questions I asked a million times.

  9. Dani
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    Apr 18th 2016 !⃝

    I think this song is about someone who has had much pain in their life and has drifted away from God, they have lost their faith, their trust. I believe its from God's perspective. "Where did you go, I had to stay"..God never leaves us, we leave him.

  10. anonymous
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    Mar 13th 2016 !⃝

    This is my interpretation: The song could probably be narrating the events when God resurrected at the third day till the ascending part when he has to leave but we have to stay and take his word to everyone who needs it, when the songs say " where are you now" could be telling us when the two women's came to visit him and found an empty tomb, in that process God were just walking and we can say that while we was walking he transformed some people's life. The first words of the song " I tried to walk together" And the rest could be telling us how close and far we could be from him but we just don't notice it and when it says "will you wait" its obviously a question, could be telling us that God is asking to us if we can trust him and wait in his strength

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 28th 2015 !⃝

    To me this song is talking about love friendships that they passed away and they seem lost.
    Or is just someone you are missing so much and you want him back.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 28th 2015 !⃝

    To me this song is talking about love friendships that they passed away and they seem lost.
    Or is just someone you are missing so much and you want him back.

  13. anonymous
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    Jun 22nd 2014 !⃝

    Since I'm not religious, I see it as a relationship. The girl had left the guy for some reason and cut off all ties. Now, he's wondering if she's ok, if they'll ever meet again, etc.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 13th 2013 !⃝

    I have a dear friend who lost his faith a few years ago. We still speak occasionally, but I realize how much I miss the old him, when we could connect on a deeper and more spiritual level. This song makes me think of him, or rather the old him that I wish would come back. I just can't help but wonder where that part of him went, if he's still there somewhere just locked away in the dark and waiting to be found again.

  15. anonymous
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    Jun 18th 2013 !⃝

    I think it's about losing a loved one, like a spouse or something.

  16. anonymous
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    Jan 16th 2013 !⃝

    I think this song is about a guy loving a girl who moved far away and has no contact with the girl and he doesn't know where she is but the whole thing starts as them as children and the guy doesn't like the girl at first but when the boy becomes a teen he realizes that she's the one he wants but she is too far for him to reach and he would do anything to contact her to let her know how he feels that's what I'm going through right now the girl I love is far away and I have no contact with her but I know she has a boyfriend this song just kills me

  17. anonymous
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    Oct 7th 2012 !⃝

    It could perhaps be a paradox to a human being's innocent and dark side. Siding between purity and sin is a struggle that everyone faces. When you face a hardship in life, it's harder to stay pure in your ways. And when you fade into the darkness, scars are left behind, leaving your innocent reputation "lost and wounded". The good side of the person could be ready to give into temptation, questioning whether their innocence would find darkness again, or if darkness was beginning to search a way back into the innocence of their soul. Or most likely, it could be the person's dark side searching for the pureness again. I just over-analyzed this, but this notion popped into my head. And it's coming from a major Red fanatic.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 22nd 2012 !⃝

    I think he's talking to someone who died.

    he's asking, trying to make sure that she/he is alright, maybe.

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