The poem plays on the old sayings about early birds and night owls, but turns them into something more personal. The speaker once had a bird and let it fly above their head, enjoying the sound of its wings and letting it rock their dreams. Then they lost sight of it, and it never came back. The bird could be read as a real pet, but the poem suggests something larger: a person, a love, or a hope that slipped away.
The speaker feels regret and a quiet ache. The line "Let myself feel" sounds like a small risk that ended in loss. Afterward, sleep seems to vanish. When others ask why they are up so early, the answer is that they never slept at all. The repeated lines about early birds and night owls dying sound half like a bitter joke, half like a warning. The mood is tired, wistful and darkly wry, with grief hiding behind a casual tone.