Thematically, the poet presents their ideas about protecting loved ones in “shoulders” as something that is a responsibility from a parent and should be treated with upmost importance. In the beginning, the speaker tells the story of a father carrying his son across the road as he sleeps on his shoulders. The pathetic fallacy of the street being “in rain”, the reader will expect this to mean that he should cross faster to reach shelter and evade the rain, but the parent here subverts this expectation and chooses instead to step “gently”, whilst “looking two times north and south”. The alliteration in “two times” creates a rhythmic flow of speech, which mirrors the rocking rhythm from the parents “stepping gently”. This unexpected behaviour is explained simply as being “because his son was asleep on his shoulder”, in which the brevity and bluntness implies that it should almost be a given that he shows this much affection and care towards his son. As the poem progresses, the poet further reinforces this idea of the expected responsibility of protecting your loved ones through the veneration of his son. The speaker states that he is carrying the “world’s most sensitive cargo”. The superlative in this metaphor serves to present the speaker’s ideas that the son is extremely important, and to the speaker, the “most” important thing in life. This is reinforced through “no car must splash him, no car drive too near to him”. The poet employs repetition of “no car” with modal verbs “must…drive” to create an instructional tone, like that of a rule book, suggesting that the speaker is breaking the fourth wall and instructing the reader themselves to take care of their children as they are the “most” important thing. Furthermore, it is told that “nowhere does [the son’s] jacket say FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH CARE”, through which this idea is reinforced as the speaker explicitly states that there are no instructions to “handle” your child “with care”, yet the speaker takes it upon himself to be this instruction manual, guiding the reader to be the best parent they can be, showing the poet’s ideas that taking care of your children (especially when they are “asleep” and vulnerable) is an undisputable responsibility that all parents share. Later on in the poem, the volta of change in tone from that of instructional, to that of the rewards that ensue protecting your loved ones has a motivational impact on the reader. The speaker states that “he hears the hum of a boy’s dream”. The aspirant alliteration creates a soft, breathy tone which serves to associate the “boy’s dream” with something that is gentle and comforting and also mirrors the transition from duty and responsibility, to the gentle rewards of protecting a loved one. This shows that the poet believes that by following the prior instructions of responsibility, you will be rewarded with gentle affection. This idea of following rules and being rewarded alluded to the religious idea of serving god and being rewarded with miracles, perhaps the poet is subtly linking the reward of having those close to you feeling safe and comfortable enough to sleep on your shoulder, as something as spectacular as divine miracles were to those in the bible. This illuminates the poet’s ideas that by taking care of your loved ones, you will receive the same, gentle, love that you show them. Ultimately, the poet care and protection as a fundamental, almost sacred duty, one that not only ensures the safety of loved ones but also fosters deeper emotional connections and rewards.