Summary

In the first quatrain, the speaker abruptly wakes up in the night and observes cold moonlight move over her bed. Her partner sleeps beside her, and the moonlight covers them both. In the second quatrain, the speaker touches her partner to make sure he or she is alive. The partner's exposed shoulder feels cold to the speaker, and moonlight causes the partner's hand to resemble marble.

In Quatrain 3, the night progresses into the early hours of morning. As the speaker listens, she shifts her head on her pillow to "lose the muffle of feathers" (10). The couple's heartbeats drum out a rhythm in the landscape of their bed, which the speaker calls a tundra in the fourth and final quatrain. The speaker thinks of herself and her partner as birds that are paired for life, migrating through the night. The partner's shoulder blades regain their...