I read this poem as being about a life. You are born, you open your eyes and everyone is glad to see you. You cry, which is usually a negative act, but everyone is overjoyed by the fact that you have been born. As you grow up and meet adolescence and young adulthood, you begin to realize the coldness and cruelty in the world that you live in, that nobody really cares about you, and that everyone just wants everyone else to care about them and give them love and attention, but aren't ready or willing to give it in return. Then, someday, you begin to mature. You have children, who you recognize as feeling the same loneliness as you, and you know the best way to treat that loneliness is with love, but you too need love, but you are more concerned with spreading the love to others than getting it back from them. As your children grow up, they realize they are lonely, just like you were. You taught them well, however, and they mature just as you did and learn to love their children like you loved them. As your life comes to an end, you die happy, knowing of the great legacy of love you left with the family you started. As you move on from your life on earth, you know that for generations to come, the same traditions of love will be carried on. While you may not have chosen to be born, you know that you spent your life well, and that those who follow you will spend their short time on earth spreading love just as you did.