The title, "Stabat mater," points to the traditional image of Mary standing in sorrow at the foot of the cross. The poem starts there, with a weeping mother, but quickly pulls that image into a much humbler, more worldly place. Now the mother is hungry, the house has no meat in it, and she has "signed things to a thief," which suggests she has been cheated or has signed away what she owned. Her situation sounds like poverty and loss.
The final lines are the surprise. This "little mother" is "not ashamed / to drink alone." The word "little" feels both tender and a bit pitying, and the speaker seems to watch her without judging. If anything, there's a quiet defiance in her lack of shame.
The mood is bleak but oddly gentle. By setting a sacred image beside an ordinary struggling woman, the poem suggests that her suffering deserves the same kind of attention, even if no one else is standing with her.