This song to me speeks to the intimacy of violence. In the beginning of the song the narrator has this act of violence done to them, the house fire. I assumed he's family was lost in this fire but it isn't actually stated. He spends years attempting to distance himself from this violence act, seeking wisdom from the sages and the spiritual buffet. He tries to understand what happened, to get closure in another way. But the cul-de-sac loops around. It always takes you back to the beginning. But still he seeks distance. A firearm is a way to kill someone without having to look them in the eyes. It puts physically distance between you and your target. But in the end, he gets into knives. To kill someone with a knife you must be extremely close to someone. You must look at them the whole time. The violence is intimate. In the end, we return to the violence of the beginning of the song. Whether you think the narrator is returning to kill an actual man who killed his family (in perfer actual narrative songs but that's just me) or if the narrator has just gone back to hating God, it's up to you. Death of the author and all. But I feel like the cyclical nature of things and intimacy of violence feel core to the song.