The poem starts with memory, called the mother of the Muses, and quickly turns to the speaker's father. His favorite phrases, "I remember, I remember" and "when you are older," sound like lessons passed down, but the speaker suggests he clung to words "for fear of losing his mind." The warning that "you'll be / sorry one day" hangs over everything that follows.
The young speaker wasn't listening. He was on a roller coaster where the rides were free, caught up in thrill and impatience. The "question mark" of adult wisdom felt out of reach, and even the "jewels" on the shelves, which seem to stand for treasured things or books, couldn't calm his rage.
The mood is restless, defiant, and tinged with regret. The last lines turn the poem around: the speaker remembers too, and his first poem "brought me to / my knees." He has become his father's heir, holding on to words and memory, and humbled by them.