The poem uses imagery of bodies of moving water, like rivers or the sea, to craft an extended metaphor for the speaker’s aborted pregnancy in the context of the flow of time, memories, and life. Rough water acts throughout the poem as an aggressive force, pulling her imagined child far away from her and out to sea—and then later pulling the child back in, crashing like a wave of painful memories. This push-and-pull dynamic of regret and resolve, grief and relief, right and wrong, demonstrates the deep complexity of the speaker’s dilemma. The poem makes no attempt to hide the upsetting reality, but also does not waver in its resolve. Instead, the speaker makes a pledge, an oath of strength and hope going forward. It is a promise of growth and transformation: The speaker intends to do better and be a better person for the sake of the child she couldn’t support.

The first stanza explores the relationship between memories and the flow of moving water. The speaker describes the abortion with the word “dropped” (Line 1), a word that avoids dramatic emotions or visceral imagery.