I felt a funeral in my brain

I felt a funeral in my brain, And mourners, to and fro, Kept treading, treading, till it seemed That sense was breaking through.

And when they all were seated, A service like a drum Kept beating, beating, till I thought My mind was going numb.

And then I heard them lift a box, And creak across my soul With those same boots of lead, again. Then space began to toll

As all the heavens were a bell, And Being but an ear, And I and silence some strange race, Wrecked, solitary, here.

Explanation

The speaker feels as though a funeral service is taking place within his or her own mind. It feels like the funeral attendees are pacing back and forth inside the speaker's head, so much so that whatever they're walking on might break under the strain and then cause reason itself to fall through the newly created hole in the speaker's mind.

The mourners finally take their seats for the funeral service. Yet this service doesn't contain any words. Instead, the speaker can only make out a repetitive, drum-like noise. This noise overwhelms this speaker, causing the speaker's mind to go blank, as if numb.

Now the service ends, and the funeral procession begins. The mourners lift a coffin and carry it as they walk across the speaker's soul, which creaks like an old wooden floor. Everyone in the funeral procession wears heavy boots made out of lead, which is why their walking once again puts such a strain on the speaker's mind. Suddenly, there's the sound of a bell ringing, but rather than coming from a single source it seems to be coming from the whole world at once.

Even the sky (and possibly Heaven itself) rings like a bell. The speaker says that people exist only to listen to the world's ringing. The speaker—whose mind has been reduced to a numb silence—feels as though he or she is no longer human but instead has become some strange creature. The speaker is alone in his or her own body and mind, as if shipwrecked there.

Finally, one of the metaphorical floorboards in the speaker's rational mind does break, creating a hole through which the speaker falls further and further down. While falling, the speaker seems to collide with entire worlds, until the speaker's mind shuts down altogether and the speaker is no longer able to understand anything at all. Just as the speaker is about the say what comes after this state, the poem ends.