When I Suspected

When I Suspected - meaning Summary

Time and Impending Parting

The poem contemplates the inevitability of an ending—parting or death—and how that knowledge shadows present intimacy. The speaker measures moments with a loved one by an anxious awareness of time: minutes feel heavy, looks are prolonged, and a ticking clock undercuts tenderness. Sparse, elegiac lines compress regret and affection into a brief meditation on how mortality shapes the experience of closeness.