Four times the speaker asks the same question: how do you miss warmth that was never really yours? Each stanza gives a different version of that loss. First, an embrace and kisses that never happened, and a touch that feels almost real before only tears remain. Then friends who drifted away like mist. Then cold corridors, unspoken words and a heavy guilt over "something which could have been."
The mood is aching and lonely, but also tender. The speaker seems caught between longing and self-blame, replaying what might have been. The imagery of ghosts, mist and drowning makes these feelings seem both vivid and impossible to hold.
The final stanza shifts slightly. The speaker describes chasing what can't be had, searching for worth in an "empty void," while the "universe" may be waiting right beside them with outstretched hands. It's a quiet, hopeful turn: the love they need might be close, if they could stop looking in the wrong places.