The beloved's gaze would have become restless on its own, but the very first condition was that one had to be completely ruined first.

This couplet captures the sheer, heartbreaking cost of love. The poet muses that even the beloved’s proud and indifferent gaze would have softened and stirred in restless empathy, but there was an impossible prerequisite: one had to be completely undone and ruined first. It speaks to the idea that the beloved’s heart can only truly be reached through the lover’s total vulnerability and self-annihilation.