A speaker walks through a city that feels cold and ugly, caught in a sadness with no clear cause. The mind keeps turning over the question of why we suffer, and the speaker wishes they could stop thinking altogether and be "innocent & free." Then comes a twist: meaning is itself a product of thought, so without thinking there would be nothing to lose in the first place. Words cause the pain, yet they are also the only way out. The speaker leans on the idea that opposites need each other, since affirmation can't exist without negation.
The poem ends on an image borrowed from someone else's thought: a tree rooted in the sky, drawing light from above to grow upward while its roots reach down into the earth. The mood moves from heavy and restless to quietly hopeful. The consolation is "fleeting" and "broken," but it is enough to steady the speaker.