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Jun 15th 2011!⃝Of course, the point is to interpret it in your own way, so I'm not saying that this is right, but this is how I see it.
It's the tearing sound of love notes
Drowning out these gray-stained windows
And the view outside is sterile
And I'm only two cubes down
He sees his world as looking through a window that maybe use to be clear and full of color, but now is stained gray. To "drown out" the gray in his life, he fantasizes about a girl in his office two cubes down. He writes her love notes, but never has the nerve to give them to her, so he tears them up instead. The "sterile view" is again how he views his life. Though tinted with gray, his life is clean and crisp and unchanging. Boring.
I'd photocopy all the things that we could be
If you took the time to notice me
But you can't now
I don't blame you
And it's not your fault that no one ever does
The word "Photocopy" I believe is just sticking with the office theme of the song, but he is really talking about looking at your stereotypical relationships, and how he could "photocopy" these stereotypes, and, if she would notice him, they could become them. As we learn she leaves the office, she can't anymore because she doesn't work there. It's not her fault that he blends in to the background and no one, including herself, ever notices him.
But you don't work here anymore
It's just a vacant three-by-four
And they might fill your place
A temporary stand-in for your face
This happens all the time
And I can't help but think I'll die alone
The vacant 3 by 4 is her cubicle, now that she left the job. She will be replaced by someone else, who will then be replaced, and thus creating "temporary stand-ins" for her face; this girl isn't special, she is replaced frequently and on a whim by other pretty girls he notices but don't bother to notice him. And because this happens so frequently, he can't help but think he'll die alone.
So I spend my time with strangers
A condition and it's terminal
In this watercooler romance
And it's coming to a close
Because none of these girls, or even just others he sees daily, will notice him, all of the people around him are strangers. This is how he is, and he know he'll never change. So it's a "terminal condition" he is living with. Running into this girl at the office watercooler is the extent of their romance, these breif moments that are in now way memorable are what is keeping is fantasys going. However, since she isn't there anymore, they are "coming to a close".
We could be in the park and dancing by a tree
Kicking over blades we see
Or a dark beach with a black view
And pinpricks in the velvet catch our fall
This part stumps me a little. Obviously, this is talking about the things they could have done together if his admiration would have bloomed into a relationship. Maybe the first part is talking about what could have happened if they had a happy, successful relationship. And the "dark beach with a black view" is saying maybe things wouldn't have been good, and maybe it would have been miserable for them both. And the "pinpricks in the velvet" are the little snags that stop and hurt their otherwise smooth "fall", or fall into love.
I believe the last half of the song is just him accepting that he will always be this way. "Just take me down" could be talking about how it is himself that is holding him back, and he's bitterly coming to terms with this, and allowing to be brought down. "Think I'd love to die alone" could be how he is making himself miserable, and how he thinks maybe this is because he secretly just wants to be miserable, and die alone.
Of course, the whole office could just be a metaphor for how he sees his life; straight forward and simple; unchanging, uninteresting, and a sort of trap he can't escape from. I'm not necessarily right, but this is what this song makes me think! :)
