The poem starts with Shire questioning the "elusive" nature of love. She declares that "noone has it" and then reflects on a memory of her parents, who are portrayed as being deeply in love. She then cuts back to her own lackluster relationship and states that "your name is a just a hand I can never hold" as she is not fated to have the same romance as her parents.
Shire then describes the "loss" she has endured from missing out on the same experience as her parents had, and instead relives "every terrible fear." She questions whether her unnamed partner "ever loved" her and realizes they do not. She then states that she will wait for "someone who knows how to stay."
