These two passages resonate with each other in the sense that they are both about a lover giving themselves to their beloved and both are from a male perspective. The lines in ‘Snow Outside’, “even if the oceans divide us / I’ll be here right by your side / for the rest of our days” register with Phaedria’s first few lines, “when you are with your soldier in person, be absent in spirit. Night and day, love me… .” In both, the idea of the distance between lovers (a.k.a. absence) is used to measure the love of a lover. In ‘Snow Outside,’ Dave Matthews is saying that even if his lover and him are far apart geographically, their love will keep them, metaphorically, together or “by [each other’s] side” and in The Eunuch, Phaedria is saying something analogous- even if his lover is physically with someone else, he wants her to be with him in “spirit” through her love and thoughts.
One interesting difference is that Phaedria’s passage seems more complex. This is because he is asking his lover to return his love- addressing a “you” who is Thais in this case. In the end, Phaedria says “you have my heart: try to give me yours” as if to suggest that all the things he asks of Thais (ie. “long for me, wait for me, think of me”), he has already given to her. So in an interesting way, this last line signifies that not only is Phaedria asking Thais to love him, but he is simultaneously professing the extent of his love. This adds another layer on top of what is going on in “Snow Outside” because, in the song, Dave Matthews just confesses love rather than dually confessing and requesting it. Although, the lover’s position in ‘Snow Outside’ is interesting in its own right because the lyrics imply an assumed mutuality of love with phrases like, “for the rest of our days” implying that their lives (their “days”) have become one, unified by the possessive “ours.”
When you are with your soldier in person, be absent in spirit. Night and day, love me, long for me, dream of me, wait for me, think of me, hope for me, find joy in me, and be all mine. You have my heart: try to give me yours