Three short lines set a quiet scene: wind blowing across a marsh, and someone out looking for vines to pot. The surprise is in the middle line, where that someone is called "a general in the wars." The title, "Digger," suggests a person working the ground, so the poem seems to picture a gardener in a way that makes the task feel like a campaign, or perhaps a former fighter now doing something gentle and ordinary.
The poem doesn't say how the speaker feels, and that restraint is part of its effect. The tone is watchful and calm, like someone noticing a figure in the distance and giving them a grand, slightly humorous label. The mood is wistful and a little wry. The west wind and the marsh feel open and unsettled, while potting vines is small and careful work. Set side by side, those two worlds, war and gardening, make you wonder what the "general" has left behind, and what he is trying to grow.