reminds me of Archimedes lullaby -- the grains of sand being washed out to sea and no one knows where. this could be a reference to death -- no one knows where the dead really go. and i guess it doesn't matter where because we can't control it. but bringing back the idea of "beginning-end," the shell is washed out to sea (no one knows where) but it will always come back

the word "embryonic" was mentioned earlier. maybe a reference to reincarnation, or generally the law of conservation of matter, the idea that death isn't necessarily the end

being underwater. could produce feelings of drowning/dying, but the word "sway" is very peaceful. perhaps both are simultaneously possible

maybe in some way a reference to the body as a shell. a spiral shell is not alive, but there is often a living creature inside. a body is not alive unless there is a brain or spirit within

lost childhood / innocence

interesting distinction. above, the water waves are "retrieving" and "leaving" the sand grains, yet here the grains are materializing and dematerializing. idk brings to mind the idea of object permanence. we don't know what happens to the sand when the ocean takes it, or really where it has been when it arrives on the shore. so as far as we know it does not exist until it comes into view on the shore, or until we begin to analyze/count it

a task never finished. as counted ones leave, new ones arrive to be counted, constantly.