The speaker finally tells someone how they feel, and the poem follows what happens next. At first there is relief. After holding their feelings in for so long, the speaker describes a weight floating away, a bounce in their step, a sparkle in their eyes. They hand over their heart with confidence and wait to hear the answer.
That answer never comes. The other person says nothing and walks away, and the mood shifts from hope to sadness and confusion. The speaker is left alone with the "sound of silence," unsure what to make of it. The poem's last lines repeat the word "ignored" again and again, moving from thoughts and feelings to the heart and the speaker's whole being. The repetition makes the hurt feel heavier with each line. By the end, the speaker admits that it hardly matters why the person left, whether from fear or from trying to be "nice." The result is the same: the love goes unanswered, and the pain stays.