Lost and worn out in a dark forest, the speaker wanders with no sense of direction and no guide. The forest feels like a picture of despair, a place where the speaker is hidden, weak and unsure of the way. The speaker talks to their own heart, which carries the "heavy loved burden" of dreams that have died. The phrase is telling: those dreams are painful to hold, yet still cherished.
Midway, the poem softens into a plea for rest. The speaker suggests scattering the ashes of those dreams, but only "for a while," until evening shadows turn grey. Then the tone shifts. The speaker insists they must rise and wander again into the "war of the world." The last lines call on the heart to gather the dreams that remain and to fight sorrow with sorrow. The mood moves from exhaustion and grief to a tired but stubborn determination, a sense that moving on is hard but necessary.