The poem is built around a shift from restlessness to calm. It opens with a speaker "having been the barking dog / that could not sleep," a picture of someone wound up, alert, and unable to settle. The dog is noisy, but the noise comes from unease rather than anger. Reading the title, "Quietist," we can guess the speaker is moving away from that state, or at least wishing to.
The second stanza offers the alternative. The speaker says they believe "as well as a bell" in "the discourse of snow." A bell rings out clearly, so the comparison suggests a simple, ringing kind of faith. Snow, meanwhile, has a discourse of its own: it speaks without sound, falling and covering things in silence. The speaker trusts that soft, wordless language over barking.
The mood is hushed and peaceful, with a hint of relief. It feels like someone letting go of a sleepless, anxious past and learning to listen instead.