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About this quote

What does it mean?
A poet grieving a lost lover compares his sadness to the sound of sea-birds in the rain.
In plain terms
The poet feels deep sadness after his lover died and will not love again.
What can you take from it?
Grief can feel like a natural force that isolates you.

Where it applies

  • processing loss
  • writing poetry
  • reflecting on love

Putting it to work

  • acknowledge grief
  • express sorrow through art

Questions to consider

  • What sound represents your grief?
  • Can love return after loss?

Another view

It presents grief as permanent and isolating which might not suit everyone.

More from Conrad Aiken

  1. As darkness falls The walls grow luminous and warm, the walls Tremble and glow with the lives within them moving, Moving like music, secret and rich and warm. …

    Permalink to quote #53
  2. 'When you are dead your spirit will find my spirit, And then we shall die no more.'

    Permalink to quote #55
  3. In one room, silently, lover looks upon lover, And thinks the air is fire.

    Permalink to quote #52

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