Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines

Typically, night is the time for romance, and the speaker notes that it was during the night that they held their love in their arms and that they used to kiss her. At the same time, night can also be lonely. It covers the Earth, and unlike the day sky, makes it hard to see. It is itself a vast emptiness, filled only with small lights that are the stars.

The night sky can indicate mystery, darkness, and anything unknown or vast. This might stand for any mysterious part of life, like the nature of love and loss. When the speaker says that the night is more “immense” now that their lover is gone, they indicate that the vast unknowing mystery seems larger, and they feel more lost in it now that they are alone.

The speaker notes that the stars are “blue and shiver in the distance” (Line 2). Stars typically indicate something cosmic or spiritual. They light the darkness, much like the way someone wise might shed light on a mystery, or a powerful benevolent figure might show someone the way in a time of ignorance. Yet, here, the stars are shivering in the distance, which indicates that they too are fragile and cold.