Lyrics

I was left to my own  
Many days fell   with nothing to show

And the walls kept   down
In the city that we love
Great   roll over the hills
Bringing   from above

But if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing   at all?
And if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like you've been here before?
How am I going to be an optimist about this?
How am I going to be an optimist about this?

We were caught up and lost in all of our  
In your pose as the dust   around us

And the walls kept   down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like you've been here before?
How am I going to be an optimist about this?
How am I going to be an optimist about this?

Oh, where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?
Oh, where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like you've been here before?
How am I going to be an optimist about this?
How am I going to be an optimist about this?
If you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
Legend

Meaning

Smith explained the song's meaning to The Sun:

"Pompeii is actually an imagined conversation between two charred corpses reflecting on the city."


He added:

"But that's why I don't like explaining a lot of my songs literally as it sounds bonkers – a song about two corpses yet the crowd are happily dancing along!"

Vocabulary

be left to (one's) own devices

If someone is left to their own devices, they are left to do what they want, or to look after themselves without any help. To be left unsupervised or uncontrolled; to be allowed to do as one pleases
If left to my own devices, I would eat a chocolate dessert every night.

roll over sth

move over, turn to other side
The image changes when you roll the cursor over it

tumble down

To collapse, fail
The structure, came tumbling down during construction works at around 1pm

rubble

rock, stone, or brick fragments
She was rescued early Tuesday from the rubble of a building that collapsed last week