The speaker imagines itself as a root pushing down into the earth, hunting for water. Everything in the poem is about that effort: scattering outward, feeling a way through the dark, shoving aside stones, going "in deep to deeper." The repeated "this is the way" gives it the tone of a rule being laid down, or a determined pep talk, as if the speaker is both explaining the journey and urging itself on.
The ending is blunt: "There is life, there is death." Water is not a luxury here. Finding it means surviving, and failing means dying. The poem doesn't say who or what the root stands for, but it can easily be read as a person searching for something essential, whether that's meaning, comfort, or simply the strength to go on.
The mood is tense and stubborn rather than sad. It feels slow and physical, like digging, and the short, plain lines make the need seem urgent and unavoidable.