The poem reads like a traveler's notes, written in short, plain lines. The speaker follows a creek upstream until it disappears among stones, then waits by the road in a dark cloak, hoping for a lift east. The title suggests a roadside in Algeria, a distance marker pointing toward Annaba, though the poem never says why the speaker is making the trip.
What stands out is how little the speaker tells us about their feelings. Instead, we get images: brown hills, white and black goats standing in shallow water, mountains that seem to drift farther away. The line about "ten thousand men" walking "in the gardens of the prophet" is the strangest moment. The poem doesn't explain it, so it feels like a vision, a memory, or a religious image appearing in the landscape.
The mood is quiet, patient, and a little lonely. "No cars" stresses the waiting. The speaker seems like an outsider, observing carefully and staying open to whatever the road brings.