Human beings have a natural aversion to any kind of change because they are creatures of habit and anything that might disrupt their already established routine or culture is generally met with resistance. The body, having experienced death, has already made a permanent change, but the spirit of the deceased has not. Rather than leaving quickly after the moment of death, the spirit remains with the body, sitting “next to it, on a small rock…” (3), seemingly reluctant to leave. Once again, in the second stanza, the reader encounters the spirit's desire to remain in what was its home when it takes the form of a shadow and wraps itself around the body. The spirit, at this point in the poem, knows that nothing will come "to give it shape again..." (4), but still tries to resist the inevitable change it must make on its "long journey" (8). This type of behavior is typical of man faced with permanent change. Despite the inevitability of a permanent change such as “moving on,” the spirit still attempts to remain in its previous state of existence, even though such a thing is impossible now that the body has lost its life.