When the moth was circling the flame, it said, 'That old fervor is neither in your tale of burning nor in my story of melting.'

This powerful couplet uses the classic metaphor of the moth and the flame to talk about the fading nature of intense passion. The moth, drawn irresistibly to the flame, represents the doomed lover. The moth's statement suggests that the agonizing heat of their past relationship—the jealousy, the desperate longing—is no longer a defining element of either person's existence. It's a realization that some intense emotional fires simply burn out, leaving behind only a quiet, undeniable truth.