Bala imagines a wedding, but it slowly turns out to be something else. The setting is a tiny chapel, "ten by eight," and the guests are "ghosts from the past," silent and unmoving. The wedding march plays "in silence" because everyone present is deaf. Nothing here feels festive; it feels like a memory or a dream, crowded with people who are no longer really there.
The speaker stands waiting, then hears the familiar vows: care for her, feed her, clothe her, cherish her, until death. He answers "I do." The turn comes at the kiss. Instead of a bride, he kisses and weds "Solitude." The poem suggests a man who has accepted loneliness as a lifelong partner, perhaps without much choice. The mood is quiet, eerie, and sad, yet also resigned. The repeated "till death sets us apart" ends the poem like a sentence being handed down, or a promise he knows he will keep.