Few poems are as plain in their grief as this one. The speaker, who seems to be a child speaking for several grandchildren, calls out to a grandfather who is no longer there. The poem is mostly a string of pleas: "Come to me," "Return to me," "Don't go far away." The poem never says outright that he has died, but the star imagery points that way. The speaker wonders whether he is "that blue star or that red one," as if looking up at the night sky for him.
What stands out is how the repetition works. The same few words come back again and again, the way a child might keep asking when a simple request isn't being answered. The speaker misses his stories and wants him close. The mood is tender, anxious, and lonely, and it grows more urgent toward the end. The poem finally breaks down into a quiet, stretched-out "Please, Please / Please," where there is nothing left to say but the wish itself.