If we face failure in achieving our purpose, we can endure it with patience, but we find the pain of selfishness and self-indulgence to be incurable.

The poet gently contrasts two forms of heartache: the sorrow of missing an outward goal and the deeper torment born of one's own ego or self-will. While worldly failure can be borne with patience and smoothed over by time, the ache that arises from our own stubborn desires offers no such solace. It reminds us that making peace with harsh circumstances is possible, but wrestling with the wounds of our own unchecked ego remains an incurable affliction.