The difficulty in apprehending his complete loss is further shown by his
address to the ship, saying, that if it had arrived in port, and he saw
the passengers step across the plank to shore; and amongst them came
Hallam himself, and they renewed all their former friendship; and Hallam,
unchanged in every respect, heard his tale of sorrow with surprise:
"I should not feel it to be strange."
Both this and the previous Poem express the difficulty we feel in
realising the death of some one who is dear to us. So Cowper wrote, after
losing his mother, and in expectation that she would yet return:
"What ardently I wish'd, I long believed,
And disappointed still, was still deceived."