I shared this with someone online and they said they appreciated the
passion in the words but they are "so sad". Below is the reply I had
sent them:

The poem certainly has desperation or tragedy as the main theme, but
by the end of it,overall, I don't see it as a very sad poem..rather a
hopeful one.

Here's my take. What happens in the poem? The whole time (until the
end) the narrator BELIEVES

* that they are alone

*that they are completely misunderstood

* that the other person doesn't hear, or doesn't care

"and you're smiling babe, and you're waving, just like you don't hear
a sound"

* that the other person, based on this, is not taking the narrator and
the narrator's cries for help seriously at all ("so babe quit fooling
with me"..)

And what happens then? Bam! in such a short space in merely just the
last two lines, suddenly the entire world view is changed...they are
no ignoring us, they are not oblivious, it's not that they don't
understand, it's not that they don't care, it's not that they are just
"smiling" ignoring our pain...instead, they are, we realize, acting
the way they are acting (moving their lips, waving their arms, etc)
because THEY themselves are in trouble.

What a positive notion...that maybe people are not deliberately cruel
as often as we think, and also not apathetic as often as we think,but
sometimes they are acting out of just their own trying-to-survive
desperation.

So many levels for the metaphor: when someone seems to make light of
something we care about or seems to not care, seems to not "hear"
(war, global warming) maybe they are just at sea and doing their best
to keep their head above water, maybe that's why they can't/don't
hear, or at least for now, don't seem to really hear, what the issues
are, or what we're saying.

Or walking down the street through a crowd...we feel so ALONE and
misunderstood and on some level that's true, but on another level,
it's a group of individuals who, inside their head, might be thinking
the same thoughts as us...what a hopeful note from this poem..

Or a third example, the activist, feeling tired, turned out, while
everyone else, seems to have energy, seems to not notice their plight
and being so tired at both the work of personal life and the work of
activism to make the world a better place...then the realization:
maybe others who I *think* are just smiling and "waiving" are really
not, but really that's just the external appearance while inside they
are feeling very much (or at least a little bit) like I feel?

So those are some attempts at putting into words why I love this
poem...I like yes, the honesty in the first 80% of the poem about how
alone we feel, etc, but what I really love about it is the ultimate
positive, or at least hopeful, message, that he manages to pull out at
just the very last moment. Even if you don't see things exactly that
way, I hope that now, after hearing what I find hopeful and even a bit
inspiring about the poem, that you can understand why I would save it
and want to share it with people..