The poem begins with a picture of lamps flickering on and off, their wicks burning low. The speaker adds that no one is there to pour in oil, which the poem calls love, or to keep the flame alive. The lamps seem to stand for lives or hopes that need care and attention, and the repeated "nobody" makes that care feel absent.
Then the poem turns. The speaker asks what happens if the lights die and the lamp runs dry, and answers with a quiet, stinging question: what does it matter to someone born blind? The fading of light means nothing to a person who has never seen it. The final line trails off in dots, as if the thought is unfinished.
The mood is sad and a little bleak. The poem suggests loneliness and neglect, and it may also hint at a kind of numbness: when you have never had something, you can't feel its loss. The tone is restrained rather than angry, which makes the ending hit harder.