A young dragonfly sways on a vine in the wind and imagines its future. It sees itself growing up, taking many lovers, raising thousands of offspring, and ruling the land and stream around it. Its thoughts are full of confidence and easy pleasure, the way a young person's might be when life seems wide open.
Then the poem shifts. A bee-eater sits on a branch above, sharpening its beak and watching the dragonfly. Since bee-eaters eat insects, the reader understands what the dragonfly does not: the danger is already there. The bird's eyes are described as kind in a way "one could not fathom," and that phrase makes the moment unsettling. The kindness may be real, or it may be a calm that hides hunger.
The mood begins light and hopeful, then turns quietly ominous. The title, "Coming of Age," becomes ironic, since the dragonfly's growing up may never happen.