The poem starts with the poet’s question, which he asks himself.

He talks about a
boy who has lost his ball and asks what he will do after losing it. The boy was
very happy and cheerful when the ball was with him. The poet further says that the
boy must have lost his ball while playing with it by throwing it up and down. At
that moment, the ball must have slipped from the boy’s hand and into the street.
From there, it fell into the nearby river and went into the water.

The poet says that there is no use in saying that the boy will get another ball.
The boy is very sad and is in deep sorrow. He stands in a fixed position, shaking
and looking into something continuously. The boy feels that all his young days and
childhood memories are gone down in the harbour with the ball. The boy cannot be
told to buy another ball as it would not be worth it. The new ball cannot bring
childhood memories and a sense of belonging to the boy. The poet further says that
for the first time, the boy has felt a sense of responsibility. He should take care
of his things so that they do not get lost in the future. Here, the ball symbolises
the happy moments and innocent days of childhood. The ball loss is compared with
man’s innocent nature. Once we lose our innocence, we can’t get it back.

The poet says that the world is full of materialistic things. People will be losing
something similar to the ball all the time. They get attached to materialistic
things, but these things will not stay forever. The boy has to learn to live
without them. The poet further says that no one can buy things back. Money is an
external thing. Everything can’t be bought with money. The boy is learning from his
experience of losing the ball and trying to get out of that sorrow. He is trying to
understand the real truth of life by accepting the miseries of life and standing up
again. Early or later, everyone learns the harsh truth that suffering is an
inevitable part of life and that we need to forget the pain and move ahead.
Therefore, we should learn to accept and let go.