I'm still thinking about this poem days after it popped into my mind as it did with Cinda. My overriding sense of its sadness is still with the silent grief of the toys, and I think part of the power of this poem lies in the way it speaks to our fear of abandonment. It's the inability of the dog and the soldier to make sense of what has happened to the little boy that lies at the heart of its pervading sadness. It's a theme echoed in "Puff the Magic Dragon", although for Puff, it's clear that the abandonment has been caused by Jackie growing up, not dying (though the experience of being left bereft is no different).