I said that nothing affects you at all and asked how you could be so stone-hearted; the beloved replied that when the heart is made of stone, how could anything ever make an impression on stone?

This couplet presents a brilliant, dramatic exchange between a desperate lover and an unyielding beloved. The speaker bitterly complains that none of their tears or pleas make any difference, accusing the beloved of being utterly stone-hearted. Instead of denying the charge, the beloved delivers a devastatingly witty retort—reminding the lover that expecting tenderness from rock is fundamentally futile.