While Heaven Wept (often abbreviated as WHW) is an epic doom metal band bas… Read Full Bio ↴While Heaven Wept (often abbreviated as WHW) is an epic doom metal band based in Dale City, Virginia, USA. The primary writer and overall engine of the band is mainman Tom Phillips. Their melodic, classically influenced style could be compared to bands such as Solitude Aeturnus and Solstice (the latter of which Tom Phillips is a former member); however, 2003's acclaimed Of Empires Forlorn saw the band branching out into a variety of metal and progressive styles. This trend continues on their 2009 album, Vast Oceans Lachrymose.

While Heaven Wept's lyrics have traditionally dealt with sorrowful matters, namely, personal loss and despondency.

Unplenitude
While Heaven Wept Lyrics

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Aging branches
Reach for the warmth of life
Fleeting from the cerement
Of ice

Unplenitude

So brittle they'd break

Beneath the ashes of autumn
Weak with the weight
Of eternel tears

Unplenitude

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of While Heaven Wept's song Unplenitude appear to be a reflection on the transience of life and the inevitability of change. Aging branches, symbolic of aging bodies, reach for the warmth of life as if trying to hold on to their youth. The image of the branches trying to escape the cerement of ice is a metaphor for the struggle to break free from the binds of death. The word 'unplenitude' suggests an incompleteness or lack of fulfillment, perhaps a feeling that life has not lived up to expectations, or that the inevitability of death renders everything fleeting and ultimately unfulfilling.

The second stanza emphasizes the fragility of life, as the branches are compared to autumn leaves that break easily beneath the weight of an eternal mourning. This could be read as a metaphor for the weight of grief and sadness that we carry with us through life. The idea of unplenitude is returned to in the final line, where the weight of tears is said to make the branches weak. Overall, the lyrics seem to be expressing a sense of futility in the face of the inevitability of death, and an acceptance of the fleeting nature of life.

Line by Line Meaning

Aging branches
Old tree branches

Reach for the warmth of life
Trying to survive by basking in the heat of the sun

Fleeting from the cerement
Escaping from the binding frost

Of ice
Frozen water

Unplenitude
Nostalgia for something that was never complete

So brittle they'd break
Tree branches are so weak that they will snap

Beneath the ashes of autumn
Fallen leaves that are dead and withered

Weak with the weight
Fragile and delicate under the burden of

Of eternel tears
The sorrow of endless crying

Contributed by Kayla A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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