The speaker heads into the city with a companion called Mr. Hater, and together they set about making money by pulling "all business" into their own hands. It sounds greedy and total, as if nothing is left for anyone else. Then the poem turns to a quieter scene: the speaker walks in a park, "giving light" along the way, and that act somehow leads to despair.
The poem never explains why, which is part of its pull. One reading is that Mr. Hater stands for the speaker's own harsh, grasping side, and the park shows a gentler self that can't live comfortably alongside it. Giving light seems like a good thing, yet the speaker ends up low, perhaps because the two lives don't fit together. The mood is uneasy and a little deadpan. The tone is flat and matter-of-fact, while the ending drops into sadness without warning. The poem suggests that success and kindness may not sit well in the same person.