Opening with just two words, "cold night," the poem sets a chilly, quiet scene and then narrows in on one image: headstones glowing faintly behind a fence. There is no action and no explanation. The speaker simply watches, and we watch with them.
What stands out is the word "pale." Headstones don't give off light of their own, so the glow probably comes from the moon or a distant lamp, but the poem lets it feel almost ghostly. The cold of the night and the cold of the stone seem to blend together. The fence adds distance. The speaker is outside the cemetery, looking in, as though death is something close by but separate, something you can see without stepping into.
The speaker never says what they feel, which is part of the effect. The mood is hushed, solemn, and a little eerie, but also calm. Judging by the stillness, it reads less like fear and more like quiet awareness of mortality.