The statement 'When the wind passes over it, it is gone, and its place knows it no more' completes the image of transience with the detail of erasure: not merely death but the obliteration of all trace. The 'wind' (ruah) is the same word for spirit and breath; the very breath that animates grass and flower can obliterate it. The phrase 'its place knows it no more' suggests a total disappearance, as though the grass never existed. This verse expresses the existential horror of non-being: the creature's place will know it no more, its existence will leave no mark. The parallelism with human existence (verse 15-16) drives home the terrible fragility of created life. Yet by placing these verses in the context of divine compassion, the psalm suggests that this transience does not result in abandonment; God's mercy accompanies and comprehends human limitation. The very insignificance of grass becomes a sign of God's grace: God cares for creatures who will soon vanish.

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