Orrin Schwab's poem draws a portrait of a woman whose charm hides a deep unease. She talks beautifully, in long, delicate phrases, and seems to enjoy conversation for its own sake. She is also thin and angular, eating only small bites, with a pretty, fair face set on a wiry frame. These details suggest someone held tight and carefully controlled.
Underneath, the poem says, she is insecure and troubled by doubts about her very existence. As her youth gives way to early middle age, she fears being trapped by life. That fear pushes her on "like a cyclone," and she rarely rests, because stopping might bring weak-kneed terror. The title now reads as both her method and her burden. Her constant talk and motion seem to be ways of outrunning her feelings.
The mood is restless and tense, with a quiet sadness. She "survived," but only by burying what she feels, and the poem's last lines suggest those feelings keep swelling anyway.