The speaker lives in a sheltered house among inland woods, yet keeps hearing a summons from the wind and the sea. They are described as “infinite Friends” who call from beyond the “whirlpool cities” — far away from busy, churning modern life. The call seems to come from the place “where the journey ends,” which gives it a spiritual or death-tinged pull. When wind moves through the woods at night, it brings the cold, wet feel of sea spray, as if the distant ocean has reached the doorstep.
The mood is mysterious and restless. The speaker smiles because the call is inviting, perhaps even freeing, but also shudders because it asks something that cannot yet be named. The repeated question, “What wouldst thou of me,” captures that tension: they are drawn toward something vast and eternal, but not sure they are ready to answer.