The speaker watches other people set up maypoles, the traditional symbols of communal spring celebration, and responds by choosing to hide. Instead of joining in, they retreat to a cabin to write. The poem's short lines make the withdrawal feel quiet and hesitant, as if each phrase is being placed carefully.
The speaker then describes themselves in odd, contradictory images: a "perfect stone of heaven," a "park without a gate," a "pistol for pins." These suggest someone who feels both solid and open, harmless and armed, though the poem doesn't explain exactly how. The final image is the most striking: from the cabin, the speaker hears "a great rose drown in the streets." A rose might stand for beauty or the festival itself, and its drowning feels like something lovely being swallowed by the crowd. The mood is solitary and wistful, a little defiant, with a sense of distance from the celebration outside.