The speaker walks home on a clear night, along the same path as years before, and notices the moon again. What has changed is how it feels. It once seemed icy and sharp, almost able to cut steel. Now its light is gentle and warm, enough to thaw the frost around the speaker's heart. Yet the warmth is double-edged: it also seems to pull the speaker back into a past that was never forgotten, a feeling close to drowning.
Then the poem turns. The speaker imagines unravelling red threads that bind them to fear, insecurity, regret and guilt, and raises a hand one last time. The repeated "same" suggests that the speaker is still the same tired but determined person. The ending is quietly tender: something, perhaps the moon or memory itself, will always lead the speaker back to "you," in whatever form. The mood is wistful, reflective and hopeful, with longing mixed in.