The speaker looks back on a first love, remembered through two young people, a boy and a girl, who built a closeness almost by instinct. The poem compares this to shaping a vessel, but also to using innocence as an edge that can be broken against. Love here is both creative and fragile.
The mood shifts as the poem moves on. "That was the first love" becomes "That used to be the first love," and the change in tense shows the feeling slipping away. Betrayal, a vague rancor, and risk-taking that felt like duty or desperation all suggest that the relationship did not end cleanly. Now the two are apart, and even their wishes for each other's happiness come out in worn-out phrases.
Yet the ending turns tender and plain: with this person, the speaker was exactly where they were meant to be. The overall feeling is bittersweet, a mix of regret, distance, and quiet gratitude.