The speaker begins by admitting he enjoys easy pleasures—listening to fine ladies sing, smoking, drinking, playing cards—and says that in those moments he seems no strong man. His idea of real strength is different: the strongest moments are when he thinks about the poor and his pity swells like a spring fed by rain. That compassion, not toughness or self-indulgence, is what he values most. Yet the ending is quietly sad. Like a flower that gets warmth and dew, his heart is capable of being wet with tears, but he calls it a weakness that such tender moments are so few. The mood is reflective and a little melancholy: a man looking honestly at himself, knowing what matters to him, and wishing he felt it more often.
Strong Moments — Summary
Sometimes I hear fine ladies sing, Sometimes I smoke and drink with men; Sometimes I play at games of cards-- Judge me to be no strong man then. The strongest moment of my life Is when I think about the poor; When, like a spring that rain has fed, My pity rises more and more. The flower that loves the warmth and light, Has all its mornings bathed in dew; My heart has moments wet with tears, My weakness is they are so few.