The speaker studies a photograph of a circus crowd where every child is delighted except one. She is a ragamuffin with a shocked, oval face and a downturned mouth, while her prettier sister sleeps on her shoulder. Everyone else has a wide-open mouth, laughing.
Then the poem shifts. The speaker addresses the girl directly: "child, i have seen it too." He recognizes her look, and it seems to be his own. He predicts that she will always be the solemn one, surrounded by people who are hysterical with joy or simply asleep. The pumpkin image, funny at first, turns sad as other people keep asking, "how come you always look like a pumpkin?" Even the person closest to her will eventually say it.
The mood mixes tenderness with dry, bleak humor. The speaker doesn't try to cheer the girl up. He offers her the comfort of being understood, though he also suggests that this kind of loneliness doesn't go away.