Interpretation
"Shelter from the Storm" by
Bob Dylan is a song about a man who has experienced many difficulties in his past. He describes a time of hard work and bloodshed, where darkness was considered a virtue and the streets were full of mud. During this time, he felt like a shapeless creature.
Then he meets a woman who offers him shelter. She says, "Come in, I'll give you shelter from the storm." This offer gives him hope and he promises to always do his best for her.
There are no words between them, but the risk is low. Everything unresolved is left behind. He imagines a place where it's always safe and warm.
The man is exhausted and marked by exhaustion. He feels buried by hail and poisoned in the bushes. He is hunted like a crocodile and devastated in the cornfields. But the woman is still there, offering him shelter.
Suddenly, he turns around and she is there. She wears silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair. She approaches him elegantly and takes off his crown of thorns. She says, "Come in, I'll give you shelter from the storm."
But now there is a wall between them, something is lost. He has taken too much for granted and misunderstood her signals. He thinks about how it all began on a forgotten morning.
It doesn't matter if the deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides on a horse. Only fate really matters. The one-eyed undertaker blows a meaningless trumpet. But the woman is still there, offering him shelter.
He has heard newborns cry like mourning doves and old men with broken teeth stranded without love. Does the man understand the question? Is it hopeless and bleak? But the woman says, "Come in, I'll give you shelter from the storm."
In a small village on a hill, they bet on his clothes. He traded for redemption and received a deadly dose in return. He has given up his innocence and been rewarded with contempt. But the woman is still there, offering him shelter.
The man lives in a foreign land, but he is destined to cross the border. Beauty is on a knife's edge, but one day he will win it for himself. If only he could turn back time, when God and she were born. The woman says, "Come in, I'll give you shelter from the storm."