How is the lost ball, the metaphor of the lost childhood of the boy? Why doesn't the poet want to 'intrude on? the boy by offering him money to buy another ball?

Explanation

The boy has a ball. Perhaps he has been keeping it for a long time. He must have developed a lot of attachment and love with the ball. Suddenly while he is playing, the ball bounces down the street. And after a few bounces, it falls down into the harbour. It is lost forever. The boy stands there shocked and fixed to the ground. He constantly goes on staring at the spot where his ball fell down into the water. Outwardly, the loss seems to be quite small. The boy seems to be making a fuss over the loss. Many boys have lost such balls and will lose so in future. A new ball can be easily bought in a dime. The metaphor of the lost ball is beautifully linked to the loss of the sweet childhood. No amount of money can buy the ball back that has been lost forever. Similarly, no worldly wealth can buy back the lost childhood. The poet doesn.t want to sermonise on this issue. The boy himself has to learn the epistemology or the nature of loss. He has to move ahead in life forgetting all the losses he has suffered in the past.