Tool - Schism Lyrics Meaning

I think schism is fairly self explanatory. Its a beautifully written and id like to share my own interpretation of the song.

The song goes through all the stages of a relationship heading towards a break up.

Firstly the "pieces" hes refering to are him and his partner. "I know the pieces fit cause i watched them fall away" means I know that me and you are good together because we wroked before we grown apart. I think this relationship failed because the two partners personailtys have changed between the time they first got together were they are now. "Testing our communication" the change in their personailty is testing their communication they have grown so apart that its hard for them to share with open up to eachother again.

"The light that feuled our fire then
Has a burned a hole between us so
We cannot see to reach an end
Crippling our communication" I think the light and fire hes reffering to means that they are both very passionate people, at the start of their relationship they thrived of eachothers passion they loved it but now the passion as turned bitter and its an angry passion, its furthering their lack of communication.

"I know the pieces fit
Cause I watched them tumble down"

The fact that he keeps repeating that the pieces fit is his way of saying I KNOW we work togther, in this verse the piceces arnt just falling away as before now they are tumbling down the distant between them is growing.

"No fault, none to blame
It doesn't mean I don't desire to
Point the finger, blame the other watch the temple topple over"

Here hes saying that the ending of the relationship isnt really either of thir faults, they just drifted apart still its tempting for both of them to blame the other person to ease the saddness they feel towards the ending. "Watch the temple topple over". The temple being the relationship and them being the pieces of the temple, with out the pieces the temple can not stand and so without them working togther the relationship topples over.

"The poetry
That comes from the squaring off between
And the circling is worth it
Finding beauty in the dissonance"

I think here hes saying that even though the break up is terible its giving him artistic motivation for his music. The poetry that comes from them fighting, the beauty in the dissonance (dissonance means 1. Lack of harmony among musical notes.
2. A tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements) The first meaning refers to the beauty the break up is bringing to his music and the secound meaning is dirctly the two partners- tension resulting from two unsuitable elemnts-the elements being them.

"There was a time that the pieces fit
But I watched them fall away"

Now hes chaning his mind instead of saying "I know the pieces fit" he saying "They used to fit". Now hes unsure if they can make this relationship work, its getting to the point of no return.

"I've done the math enough to know
The dangers of our second guessing
Doomed to crumble unless we grow
And strengthen our communication"

Secound guessing means to rethink our first opnion on something, these happens at the end of most relationships, the things you onced love about the other person now becomes annoying and unbarable, he says that their doomed to crumble unless they grown and strengthen the communcation, it implies that they actually arnt even confronting eachother on whats realling happening, they are drfiting further and futher apart and sweeping it all under the rug, he saying that if they just talk about about they might still have a chance.

"Cold silence has
A tendency to
Atrophy any
Sense of compassion
Between supposed lovers"

atrophy means -Waste away, typically due to the degeneration of cells. Therefore hes saying the fact that they arnt talking about their problems deystroying andy sense of compassion towards eachother.
He says here "supposed" lovers implying that now they have have grown so apart if you were on the outside looking in you woudlnt even know that they had once been lovers. Now they are strangers (going back to my point about the relationship failing due to them changing)

The following lines are the most powerful and upsetting lines of the song. He had been repating these line from the start and now the power in his voice in which he sings it, we can really hear his desperation here, he WANTS and NEEDS this realtionship to work.

"I know the pieces fit
I know the pieces fit
I know the pieces fit
I know the pieces fit
I know the pieces fit
I know the pieces fit
I know the pieces fit
I know the pieces fit"

As he says this over and over his tone becomes aggressive. I KNOW THE PIECES FIT, I KNOW THE PIECES I KNOW THE PIECES FIT. hes almost trying to convince himself that they work together, but we can tell by his tone of voice and frustration that they obviously don't fit.