Brittany Allen's poem is a love confession that begins small and grows more certain as it goes. The speaker can't stop thinking about someone, their name looping like a song, until the words "I love you" finally surface as if said for the first time.
What follows is a refusal of fantasy. The speaker pictures a future that is messy and ordinary: saving up to move in together, a simple wedding, pets that make a mess, dinner dates that get rescheduled. They say plainly that they want "real life," not a dream, and they want it through the good and the bad. The line about keeping a promise "like a vow" hints that the other person is more doubtful about such things.
The ending turns "real" into a refrain. The loved one feels like cold wind and dark nights, which the speaker embraces, since the wind is the partner's favourite and the dark is the speaker's comfort. The mood is quiet, steady and devoted rather than starry-eyed.