i wish i were blind interpretation

Here's the stanza:

We struggle here but all our love's in vain
And these eyes that once filled me with your beauty
Now fill me with pain
And the light that once entered here
Is banished from me
And this darkness is all baby that my heart sees

The basic idea is that the beloved and the author once had a relationship. This stanza indicates that for the author, the relationship has never had closure, therefore it still feels "current" or "in the present." So, he uses the present tense to describe how he still feels about her.

Perhaps "we struggle here" indicates that their relationship was filled with conflict of some sort (self-imposed or externally-influenced). So then, "all our love's in vain" would mean that the relationship will ultimately fail or be unfulfilled, and the author is reflecting on that.

Another interpretation is that the author knows the relationship is over, but he mentally/emotionally reminisces, so for a brief time it becomes current to him.

I think it's clear that he did have some sort of relationship with the beloved, though.

thanks much for the detailed explanation.

personally ,i feel closer to this song ,now more than ever.

you have no idea how much.

i didnt imagine there were such a good songs in HT/LT. this song and My Beautiful Reward are Springsteen at his top writing skill.

TIA

Yes, I too love this song.
It is the stand-out on those albums for me. Imagine that song recorded with the full E-Street band work-up, Max, Danny (rest his soul), Roy. Great song writing.
His guitar work is some of his best too!
Cheers,
Hazy

"We struggle here but all our love's in vain"

This heart-stopping line is bigger than the relationship between the singer and the woman who left him. This is Bruce having a full-on existential crisis - "What's the point of our little lives, all the pain we put into love, it's all meaningless, in the end we are dust, what's the bloody point of it all... etc., etc."

The "here" is the World, our earthly existence...

I'm guessing that the use of "love in vain" is deliberate, echoing back through Rock to Blues to Robert Johnson. You can hear it in "Layla": "...please don't say we'll never find a way, and tell me all my love's in vain".

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_in_Vain

There really is some great writing on these two albums.

I know this is how the lyrics are printed, but I always heard "We Struggled here"

In that sense I think the stanza works better, as if they struggled with their relationship, but it is now in the past, and all their love was in vain.

Here are a couple other possibilities.
1. They are still living together, but she is cheating on him and he knows it. The stuggle to save the relationship on going, but in vain.
2. "We" is him and the kids after she left.

I also hear "struggled." And you're right - it makes more sense. This could be just another example of a lyric sheet typo.

"We struggle here" doesn't have to refer to only him and his ex wife but to mankind. Like "God lost in heaven, we lost on earth".

my interpretation is simple, its fucking rubbish

I kinda like the song. Well written lyrics.