(I found this and it really helps to understand this twisting, multi-directional section of Claudio taking a stronger stand after writing the original letter to Newo.)

“Neverender ”

“Neverender” is essentially a revision of “Junesong Provision” by Claudio after he resolves himself at the end of “Junesong” to be strong and live long enough to come home and cease Newo’s waiting. As a mental rewrite of “Junesong Provision”, Claudio reveals in this song some very important parts of himself and aspects of his personality to us, such as his acceptance that he is leaving and may never return, along with the fact that as much as he loves Newo, she is not the center of his world. The song is primarily a way to not only setting his own mind as ease as far as thinking of what the future holds, but is also an attempt to set Newo’s heart at ease by telling her his absence is not her fault and that he’ll be back again someday, a better and bigger man than before.

”When you’ve gone about things all wrong,
bury them here,
with the lifetime you would never regret.” – (Claudio is speaking to himself, but addressing his words to Newo, as he sits in the garbage transport, the ‘Guile Griever.’ He assumes she’s read the letter and tells her to take her doubts and suspicions about his leaving being her fault and to leave them behind her, as he leaves their world behind, and to move on with a life without him and without regret. He only wishes to see her happy and does not want her living with regrets about what could have been.)

”In savoring sleep,
what do you mean I toss
and turn everywhere?” – (Claudio thinks about his and Newo’s time together, specifically an incident in which he woke up beside her and she told him he sleeps roughly. Much like many of us don’t remember our dreams, when Newo tells Claudio that he tosses and turns in his sleep, he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. He never remembers his dreams, so as far as he knows, his sleep is peaceful and deep.)

”I’ll miss you when you’re gone,” – (Even though he’s the one who’s left, Claudio doesn’t have the greatest faith that Newo will stay and wait for him. In fact, he even expects her to leave him and he already misses her as he anticipates never seeing her again.)

”in pretending that you meant
the world to me.” – (As much as he loves her and will miss her, Claudio can no longer deny that Newo had to take a backseat to his own frustration and suffering due to the fantasies and dreams that will not cease to leave this feeling of potential within him. It could even be inferred that along with being a buffer between Claudio and the rest of the world, he also inadvertently used her companionship as a way to distract himself from these yearnings within himself. That he fell in love with her came as a lucky side effect. But now that he is away from her and has been effectively immersed in that very fantasy that haunted him earlier has given him the change in perspective to realize that as much as he loves her love for him, he never loved her enough to replace his own frustrations with life.)

”With that you’d call me a liar,
and in the making mistakes
you’ll rest incomplete.” – (Claudio expects that Newo won’t understand what he means in his letter and will grow angry and call him a liar for all the times he said he loved her and that she was the center of his world. She’ll reject him briefly and say many things about him and possibly ruin reminders of their relationship such as pictures of them together or gifts given to her by him. Afterwards, when she’s calmed down and shifted anger for concern and worry, she’ll begin to regret the mistakes she’s made [or felt she’s made], both during their relationship and after reading his letter. In this regret and confusion, she’ll find herself unable to sleep peacefully like she did when he was still there to complete her.)

”(I’ll be home)” – (Claudio doesn’t literally mean he’ll be at his house. Instead, what he means is that where he’s at now, lost and involved in something much larger than himself, is what he accepts as his new home. He and his own survival is his new home.)

”In graver mistakes; dear mom and dad,
I write you in this letter (I’ll be moving on) that states:
when the new day’s begun (new day’s begun)
forget your son when he’s out on his own.” – (In a small show of human hypocrisy, despite telling Newo not to regret the mistakes she’s made, Claudio can help but regret the mistakes that he’s committed against his mother and father, whether they be of the usual teenager variety or of having to leave home without being able to wish them goodbye like he did to Newo. He considers this mental letter a poor comparison to a real goodbye letter like the one he left Newo. But, no matter what mistakes he’s made or that they’ve made he just wants them to forget about him and save themselves now that he’s gone, just as he’s trying to save himself and move on past the deaths of his siblings. He knows that they’ll be ok if only they can move on. As for Newo, he worries about her still blaming herself.)

”When the hand reads 7:30
and your night begins to sink
in the short but faster fall,
Anxious but calm retort
to a mirror that frames your face
baring the finest swell.” – (Newo wakes up and the night begins to sink away from the quickly rising dawn of the day. She finds Claudio’s letter, but can’t bring herself to read it. As she tries to get ready for the day, she looks in the mirror and tries to tell herself that nothing’s wrong and that the letter probably isn’t about anything bad, but even as she tries to calm herself down, she still feels the anxiety emanating from the letter and can’t stop the tears from welling up and running down the swell of her cheeks as she cries in front of the mirror. While Claudio doesn’t know she hasn’t read the letter yet, he still imagines a similar scene following her reading the letter.)

”When the day begins to break
like the tears that run across your cheek,
stand straight and imagine you then
in the things and the way they could have been,
when the thoughts, they race across your chin,
here in the Neverend.” – (As the sun begins to come up, Claudio encourages Newo to wipe away her tears and to stand up straight and move on. She does her best to continue getting ready for the day, but despite her best efforts, she can’t stop crying as she thinks about the life she had imagined for herself and Claudio in which their relationship would never end and they’d be together forever.)

[chorus]
”Point your gun in another direction,
now that you’ve cried yourself to sleep.” – (Claudio compares blame to a gun and knows that Newo, upon reading the letter, is going to blame herself for causing him to leave. He hopes that after she’s had time to be angry and upset and cries herself to sleep, when she wakes up she’ll be able to see things more clearly and understand that she’s not to blame for him leaving. Claudio knows she’s going to be upset for a long time and is going to have many mornings waking up to a wet pillow, but he doesn’t want her blaming herself over this.)

”Here in there after the fire.” – (Fire, when mentioned in the Coheed and Cambria albums, alludes to many things, both literal and metaphorical. In this instance, Claudio and Sanchez both are referring to fire’s ability to destroy the old in order to make room for the new. Fire is both of destroyer of life and the birth-giver of new life; just like Claudio has had his old life destroyed and is now forced to leave it for a new life out on his own.
As for the ‘here in there’ part, what Claudio is referring to in these words is actually the Neverender, or space. In the song, Neverender is actually two separate-but-parallel things: space and the realm of dreams, both of which never end and go on forever. While Newo is there down on Earth, dreaming of a different way of things, Claudio is in space aboard the Guile Griever, heading deeper into his own Neverender now that Ryan’s ‘fire’ has burned away Claudio’s old life.)
[end chorus]

[Note: this next verse actually takes place in both Newo’s and Claudio’s own never-ending realms: dreams (both waking and sleeping) and space, respectively. This section of the song is particularly hard to decipher due to some extremely metaphorical language and complex point-of-view shifts.]

”(Before you walk home) Peace and figuring will he be home again?” – (As Newo finishes getting ready for the day, she decides to go to the Kilgannon home to talk to Claudio. At this point she still hasn’t read the letter, and so Claudio is still very much part of her heart. In fact, one could even surmise that if ‘home is where the heart is’, then Claudio is Newo’s home and when Newo goes to look for Claudio, she’s actually going home. As she walks to her car, she daydreams and wonders if he’s ok, if anything is wrong, and if she will ever see him again.)

”(Signal loss and stereo) With wide open windows will she be waiting for…” – (Even though Claudio and Newo can’t read each other’s minds, it’s as though they are thinking in stereo, since they are both thinking about each other and of their potential of meeting again in the future. While Newo wonders if Claudio will ever come back to her, Claudio wonders if Newo will welcome him when and if he returns “home” to her. In fact, Sanchez goes far enough in referring to their relationship as their home as to refer to Newo’s open arms as open windows.)

”(The sounds surround the overpass) with severed arm placement when the day’s dark, old and dead.” – (Newo is so lost in her own daydreams of Claudio that she barely even notices the sounds of the outside world. She’s so worried about him and distraught over the idea of it being over between them that the world feels like all the life and warmth has been bled out of it, just like Claudio’s world was when he ran past the very same overpass after seeing Josie killed.)

”(A dead man against you) we’ll write her a letter with long time passing.” – (This line is the most perplexing in the entire song. It’s as though Claudio is finally beginning to meld with the reality of him being something more than a mere boy, i.e., the Crowing. In fact, it’s as though this line is written by the Writer, instead of Claudio himself, which makes me think that Claudio has fallen asleep and has drifted into the dream form of the Neverender. The writer knows that the Onstantine Priest, who is not really alive or dead, but to Claudio probably looked like a dead man, is after Claudio and seeking to kill him. In order to ease Claudio’s mind, the Writer subtly introduces the idea of writing a new letter to Newo so Claudio can tell her everything he couldn’t in the first letter. If this really is the Writer’s influence, then this is how the song started.)

”After the fire
(I’ll be home to say I love you and I’ll be moving on).

And I’ll be bigger.” – (With the Writer’s subtle introduction, we now have another meaning for the fire. Not only does this line refer to the metaphorical fire that destroyed Claudio’s old life, but now it also refers to the literal fire that is going to consume Star IV in the future, even though Claudio isn’t aware of that future event yet. All he knows is that after he survives this new life, if he survives it, then he promises to return to Newo for a proper goodbye before going away for good. He doesn’t understand why, but for some reason he understands that he’ll never be with her again. This is strong foreshadowing and a good example of Sanchez’s skills at planning ahead in the narrative. Claudio doesn’t know why, but he feels an uncanny certainty that if he survives this current ‘fire’ and the future it holds, then he will be bigger as a result. He just has no idea how much bigger.)

This song is one of the more difficult songs to interpret until you realize two things: One: Neverender refers to Space; both Outer Space, and the space within Dreams, and Two: The entire song takes place either through Claudio in Outer Space or in the dreams experienced by Claudio and Newo, essentially making the entire song take place within the Neverend. The subtle and implied introduction of the Writer actually supports this idea, as this is the only realm in which he can easily influence Claudio until ‘The Light and the Glass’ when he begins to break through the Willing Well. The Writer knows that Claudio can’t do his job and truly become the Crowing while being overly concerned with Newo. Claudio needs to be focused on saving his parents, and as a result saving Heaven’s Fence. So, in order to set Claudio’s mind at ease so he can focus on the path planned for him, the Writer gives Claudio the idea that he (they) will write Newo a promise that it’s not her fault and that they’ll see each other again. This song is a result of Claudio dreaming about that promise.