Title of Valentine sets up certain expectations of conventional and commercialised love which the poem fails to deliver.
Refrains disrupt the poem structurally. First two refrains suggest the fragility of the relationship. A sense of decay which suggests the irreparable nature of their love.
"your heels emptying before me/evacuated as the channels of our hearts"
Physical distance symbolic of the distance in their relationship. Setting of Paris - links love and pain.
"each step filling the curve of your hip"
Highlights the sexual nature of the relationship - which is all they have as the emotional connection has deteriorated.
"wrecked voyagers"
Trying to resolve their argument through physical intimacy. Extend metaphor of shipwreck, suggests impossibility of fixing their relationship.
"uncertain in their exhaustion whether to laugh or weep"
Instability of their relationship. A fundamental ambiguity - tired of sustaining the relationship.
Valentine flips the power dynamics Sheers usually writes from - the female character holding the most power (similar in Show although manifests negatively).
