The speaker is a melancholy individual parting ways with a close companion. Feeling isolated by a highly subjective view of the world, the speaker struggles to separate waking life from the unconscious mind. Frustrated by the fleeting nature of time and affection, the speaker experiences profound anguish when trying to hold onto shifting grains of sand on a stormy beach.

The listener is the speaker's companion who prompts the central philosophical debate of the poem. Grounded in material reality, this individual criticizes the speaker for living too much in a fantasy. Their withdrawal of affection forces the speaker into a painful reckoning with isolation.

An omnipotent higher power addressed by the speaker in a moment of utter desperation. The speaker begs God for the ability to hold onto a single grain of sand, representing an impossible desire for permanence.