Comparing What Lipps My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why

The poem "What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why" was written just five years after the First World War when huge number of young men died. The poetess is in her early 30's and she is not regretting the past, she is actually regretting, that her young age has passed. Deep under her heart, holds hurting memories of the past and is deeply badly wanting her youth. The poetess also speaks of the many love affairs which have come to an end because of the death of the soldiers in the First World War.

Loss and change are the two major themes around which the poem centers around. Though the theme of loss is common in the whole poem it is more visible in the last few lines of the poem. The poetess is in fact showing/representing the matter from the point of view of all the people who have lost their loved ones in the First World War.
Her lips and her arms are the (taken away from or removed from a physical body) symbols which needs no explanation to whom they belonged to. She is like a lonely tree standing in the chilly winter streets because the most beautiful birds in her branches are lost. She has lost the love of her life and her life is now (without any point or purpose). She is alive just by admitting/recognizing/responding to the connection with the soul of her loved one in his (not being there; not being present)