The meaning of the lyrics of the song "Tylko Popioł Wie" by the artist "Wolna Grupa Bukowina"

The song "Tylko Popiół Wie" by the Polish band Wolna Grupa Bukowina carries a profound philosophical meaning, touching upon themes of mortality, oblivion, and the ephemerality of human existence.

The central metaphor is ash, the sole witness to complete destruction, representing the finality of the journey. The lyrical hero, foreseeing oblivion, compares himself to a discarded cigarette butt, doomed to slow decay. He predicts becoming part of the "cultural layer," a faceless mass, leaving no significant trace.

The image of the archaeologist uncovering pitiful remnants of the past emphasizes the irony of the situation: the attempt to reconstruct the past from insignificant fragments is doomed to fail, and the researcher's fame is as ephemeral as the object of study itself.

"Inverted pyramids" symbolize shattered ambitions and unfulfilled hopes. The archaeologist, repulsed by the sight of decay, exclaims "carrion!", distancing himself from mortality and striving for the sublime.

The bird crunching underfoot is another image of the fleeting nature of life, slipping away in an instant.

The final lines of the song are a hymn to decay. "Carrion" is interpreted as liberation from the limitations of form and wholeness. Decomposition is not simply death, but transformation, disintegration into the smallest particles, a return to the source.

Therefore, the song "Tylko Popiół Wie" is a reflection on the inevitability of death and oblivion, the transience of fame, and how true freedom lies in dissolution, in returning to primordial chaos.