Collect The World

It is funny how music stamps a memory, how I have associations with people, places, events, based on songs. Toad the Wet Sprocket always brings me back to when I first met and began dating David. I believe they were a Santa Barbara band, a place that David spent a good deal of time at, and we went and saw them at Stanford. It was the first time I'd been in a concert where I was close to the stage among hundreds of people, all crowding in. The excitement was amazing, as was the concert. I really enjoyed their album and remember the lyrics of many of their songs, songs that make me think and I actually like that.

Anyways, here's one I've been humming for a while. There's one line in it that keeps echoing in my mind. What do you think is the meaning of this song?

Butterflies

(I saw something
gigantic
out on the water
I asked my dad for a nickel
He gave it to me
It was kind of misty
I couldn't be sure what it was
And of course, he wouldn't tell me)
in time i will collect the world
the eggs and wings of butterflies i love the wings
of butterflies

a man drove up in an ugly car
and he flashed his lights at everything he saw
and his eyes were red
and his stereo was so loud you couldn't hear the engine's roar
and he yelled at everybody in the road
and did not notice all the moths he'd massacred
spread across the open road

all of a sudden there it was
I still couldn't tell
ya know when you get so close
to something that BIG
you can't see anything at all...)

in time i will
collect the world
the eggs and wings of you who fall on
butterflies calvary
had you wings of i give my children
butterflies

a moth had settled upon his arm and he looked at it with a lazy eye
and he lifted up a gigantic hand
and he spread his fingers towards the sky
and he nudged the moth to make it fly away
but moths are fragile things
and he just wiped its body
down across his shoulder blade

he's a wonder, he's a little black-wing boy
oh my daughters
he'll fill you with joy

in time i will
collect the world
the hearts and limbs of
butterflies you who soar o'er
calvary
had you wings of
butterflies oh father, i offer
butterflies