ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
1 .How did the poet see the whole scene of the boy losing his ball?
Ans:
The poet saw the boy playing with his ball. While he was playing with it, the ball bounced and bounced .It then rolled down and  then most unexpected thing happened. Rolling down the street and after taking a few bounces,  the ball finally fell down into the water of the harbour below and was lost forever.

2. What was the boy reaction after his ball fell into the water?
Ans:
The falling of the ball in the water was quite unexpected all of a sudden. Actually, it was really an unexpected loss. The boy was completely shaken and surprised but he did not  even move an inch. He stood there fixed to the ground like a statue. He  was staring at the point where his ball fell into the harbour. It looked like as if he was thinking of his childhood days that would never be got again which had also disappeared  like the lost ball .

Q. ‘He is learning, well behind is desperate eyes’
3. What is the boy learning from the loss of the ball?
Ans:
The boy is learning the nature of loss in this materialistic world. He has learnt that loss is part and parcel of human life.

4. How is the lost ball, the metaphor of the lost childhood of the boy?
Ans
. Outwardly, the loss seems to be quite small. The boy seems to be making a fuss over the loss. Many boys have lost such balls and will lose so in future. A new ball can be easily bought for a few rupees. The metaphor of the lost ball is actually linked to the loss of the sweet childhood. No amount of money can buy the ball back that has been lost forever. Similarly, no worldly, wealth can buy back the lost childhood. He has to move ahead in life forgetting all the losses he has suffered in the past.

Why doesn’t the poet want to ‘intrude on’ the boy by offering him money to buy another ball?

The boy has a ball,maybe he has been keeping it for a long time. He must have developed a lot of attachment and love for it. Suddenly while he is playing with it  the ball bounces down the street and falls down into the harbour. It is lost forever. The boy stands there shocked and does not know what to do. He constantly goes on staring at the spot where his ball fell down into the water. Outwardly, the loss seems to be quite small but to the boy the loss is very big.This huge loss that the boy experiences cannot be compensated by buying a new ball or by giving him some money.