From the intro it's a reference to a song lyric (which I wasn't familiar with):
While some were meant for sea, in tug-boats ’Round the shore’s knee,
(Milling with the sand,
and always coming back to land),
For others, up above
Is all they care to think of,
Up there with the birds and clouds, and Words don’t follow.
—Tiny Ruins, from “Priest with Balloons”
