A woman takes up a bow and hunts because her community is starving and no one else is left to do it. The poem follows her through the whole task: the tired bow laid on the ferns, the empty quiver, the fight with the animal, and then the cutting and skinning, ending with her children helping to load the sled.
She seems practical and steady more than anything. She admits that hunting isn't seen as "a woman's place," and she mentions her husband, lost to war, but she doesn't dwell on either. The details she notices are small and physical: her breath in the cold air, the frost, the snow in her daughter's hair, the warmth of the blood against the white.
The mood is quiet, determined, and a little hopeful. The title, "Without Sorrow," and the closing lines suggest she has put grief aside and found pride in providing. The line "A rabbit today a mammoth tomorrow" shows her confidence growing, as if this first success has made her believe she can handle more.