It’s hard to put a breakup into words. There’s pain, relief, reminiscing and finally contentment. Hozier describes it all to me in a comforting way. “All Things End” surpasses the feeling of heartbreak to the stage of acceptance. I recently went through a breakup and the one thing I realized is that in the end, everything ends. You think the feeling of being in love will last forever, but it doesn’t. It feels as though your lover, who you knew so well, has died. In life when something ends, like a relationship, it brings new beginnings and discoveries. It is a rebirth. 

“I have never known a silence like the one fallen here /

Never watched my future darken in a single tear /

I know we want this to go easy by being somebody’s fault /

But we’ve gone long enough to know this isn’t what we want /

And that isn’t always bad.”

This verse really called to me because when my relationship ended, I felt that silence. I felt the loneliness that was so new to me. It really was the small things that I missed — holding hands in the car, laughing at my jokes even when they weren’t funny and smiling at him because I knew that our love was unconditional. At the end of it all, I felt a harsh cold come over me. He was a part of me and after, I didn’t know who I was or how to act. It would’ve been easier if he was a bad person or if I hated him but that’s the thing — I don’t. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, and that’s okay. 

When Hozier brings us to the bridge, he announces an orchestra. The strings quietly spiral through the verse so peacefully then there is a sharp halt to the instrumentals. Cutting to the sound of a gospel choir singing with joyous clapping. When I close my eyes, I can see pews filled in a church with a bright light peeking through the windows, and there stands Hozier singing with a triumphant choir behind him and smiling, finally at peace. 

During a breakup, it feels as though your other half is being stripped from you and you are left standing alone. But Hozier’s wise words bring comfort to a feeling so isolating. I finally found that in the end, there is hope for the future that we could “begin again.”