The speaker repeatedly returns to images and symbols relating to water to describe their child, beginning with the simile “Gilled like a fish” (Line 3). Later, the speaker describes the child as a “traveled prawn” (Line 12), a “sprat” (Line 14) and “creel of eels” (Line 15). Each of these alludes to the state of immersion in the water of the womb, and the way each human being is born from water. The use of water as a symbol also conveys a sense of mystery and depth, as water only reveals a small fragment of itself to the naked eye. This, in turn, mirrors the divide between known and unknown that the speaker is experiencing.