The dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain and desperation,
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration
Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire,
With just the briefest pause --
The flooding through her memory,
The echoes of old applause.
She limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door...
The writer stare with glassy eyes --
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined
And streaked with tears of rage. [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/rush/losing_it.html ]
Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision,
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision
And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more...
Some are born to move the world --
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you -- the blind who once could see --
The bell tolls for the...
This song represents people with alzheimer's and other similar conditions. The characters are people who have lived their dreams. In the dancers case, her physical condition is the only clue she has that she is still not what she used to be. The writer knows something is wrong and is angry he can not get his arms around it. The song hints at great ones in society who succumb to disease. The reactions of the characters in this song most likely represent a norm. The lost days of lore are just more "most of us" type memories and frustrations, for the majority. All the same sad.
It seems he is using the imagry of a writer and a dancer both with implausable dreams that have never come to fruition. They are "losing" they're dream and inspiration and it is sad. The last two lines seem to reach out to those who believe they have lost their dreams and ambitions. The last line i think is a reference to those who have lost their vision for the future. Its a very sad song. But it is also very true because many people, myself included, spend myriad years of their life dreaming and dreaming and dreaming of things to be, things to do, etc etc... But only the strong willed, fortuantate, and lucky get to see their dreams come true.