“You”
The speaker addresses the reader in second person narration, but this "you" could also be referring to an unidentified person only known to him. A third possibility is that the speaker is referring to the “universal you,” as the poet aims to illuminate a shared human experience.
The speaker
The speaker has an omniscient quality in this poem, as he makes sweeping assumptions and confident predictions about what the reader (or another “you”) will experience in the future. Though he is omniscient in this sense, he is not a neutral presence. His descriptions of nature, time, and memory are visceral and poignant, indicating an understanding of both the joy and pain of life. Presumably, he feels sure that the person to whom he addresses the poem will experience what he has experienced too.
The Wind
The wind features heavily in this poem, and is referenced in every stanza. It seems that the wind is a tool for placing the reader into the physical—and therefore emotional— conditions of the poem. Further, the wind functions as a symbol of a force that is extremely powerful and evocative, and yet invisible. No one can ever grasp the wind, though we can smell and feel it, much like one cannot truly grasp a memory that has eluded consciousness.
