Claire-Louise's untitled poem is about missing someone who has been gone for years. The speaker opens with three short lines, heart, body and mind, as if the whole self is aching at once. What follows is a memory of a brief, fragile relationship. The two found comfort in shared loneliness, but the poem suggests they never had much of a chance. The image of roots "too easily pulled apart" makes the love feel deep but badly supported. Their meetings were so rare that they can be counted on one hand, and some of them were "forbidden," which hints at a secret or disallowed connection.
The mood is sorrowful and raw. A dream of the person returns the pain, and the speaker wishes it were real enough to touch. The plea to God shows how helpless the speaker feels. The last line is the sharpest: the heart bleeds "for a lover I never knew," suggesting the love was more longing than lived reality.