The poem begins with a description of a group of people making preparations for a storm. The speaker explains that they build their houses out of sturdy materials, keeping them low to the ground to minimize damage. There's little else on the island—no hay or trees—which means that there's not much that the storm's winds can pick up or damage. The speaker is clearly a resident of the island, speaking on behalf of the island as a whole, and portraying the islanders as a sturdy, prepared people to match the structures they build.
The speaker then muses that trees, and a more lush landscape, might make the people on the island feel less lonely once the storm strikes. The trees would create noise when the wind blew the branches and leaves, momentarily distracting people from the danger the storm posed to themselves and their homes.
However, the speaker then backtracks, reminding readers that there are no trees to speak of, and that the island's landscape is sparse and unforgiving. Addressing the reader directly via the second person, the speaker asserts that even the surrounding sea provides no comfort. Instead, it is compromised by the storm, which picks up water from the sea and flings it against the windows of homes. The speaker compares this spraying of water to the spitting of a once-tame cat that has begun to act wild.
The only thing the island's residents can do, says the speaker, is wait out the storm. They can only sit in their homes while the wind descends like an invisible aircraft dropping artillery and the island's very air turns into a stream of gunfire, attacking the people. The poem concludes with the speaker musing about how strange it is that the thing the island's people are afraid of is intangible and invisible.
