The poem is about the kind of attention that listening asks for, and how it can ease grief. It opens with an odd image: the ear has no purse, nothing to hold or hoard, yet it "will know what to do." Unlike a pocket or a bag, an ear doesn't keep what it receives. It lets sound pass through.
That idea carries into the sea scene. The speaker imagines that "sometimes at sea" a great loss can disappear on the wind, carried off "in the quiet of things." The phrase suggests that silence isn't empty. It's a place where heavy feelings can loosen their grip.
The speaker sounds calm and a little hopeful, though the poem never says so outright. Nothing is solved or explained. Instead, the mood is hushed and spacious, helped by the short lines and plain words. The poem seems to suggest that if we stop grasping and simply listen, something painful might finally be allowed to go.