Love and Pain; Our Promise (Analysis)

There is something I should know:

Sometimes, it is okay to let go.

 The poem begins with this line. It shows that the poet has realised that she needs to let go of something that is probably holding her back.

 Summer is great, but maybe I need to let it snow. 

I need to let myself grow.

This is a reference to how people enjoy Summer, so does the poet. But it is time to change; even though the poet isn't a fan of winters, she needs to let it snow, so that she can adapt to different surroundings and learn to grow. 

It is okay to love, but important to live;

Love is alive, and cannot be trapped within a dead thing.

This line talks about how love is a good thing, but it is important to feel alive to love. The poet knows that she is feelingless from within, not living but just surviving. That, according to the poet, cannot call for her to love because love is a wonderful, alive thing and cannot be trapped within a person that is numb at the moment. 

Love demands to be heard, pain demands to be felt:

both, a living reminder of being human.

Dead things don't talk, but if the poet loves, then she should proclaim it, and if she is a human being, then she shouldn't fear pain and make herself numb. 

Love can be chained and pain can be freed, 

Both, a living rendition of my promise-

The first line of this doublet links the second line to a past promise that the poet has made to someone. 'Love can be chained' seems to show how her love is bound within her, something no one knows of, something she refuses to give freedom to. Similarly, pain is something she needs to free from herself so that she can love. 

I will never leave your side, I said it with a smile;

Living up to it is difficult when instead of being with you-

I am behind.

Now, the poet has directly delved into her past. Not leaving the side of the one loved seems to be the promise she made. But how can she stay beside him, when she is actually behind him, which means that she isn't involved in his life, but actually just views it from behind. 

Your happiness is a living reminder of our promise, 

where I am living it behind the scenes:

Behind the veil of your stainless steel;

Protecting, defending-

You are the body, I am the dress. 

I protect you, I defend.

 Here, she talks about how she fulfilled her promise of taking care of him even from behind the scenes of his life, meaning she was the reason of his stainless steel, that means his unharmed body. Referring him as the body, she ends with the doublet where she calls herself his dress. Something that protects and defends him, thus fulfilling the promise she once made.