The poem reads like a short scene from a dream, or a fragment of an old tale. The speaker has dinner at a tavern with the king's fishmonger, a man whose job is fish but who eats none. Instead he orders a tongue, which is an odd, slightly comic choice, and it hints at talk, gossip, or things left unsaid. Nearby, an "ugly bride" is busy playing cards, so she seems oddly unbothered by her own wedding, or at least distracted from it. Then the lute, an instrument you'd expect to be played for pleasure, comes to live with the speaker "as a servant."
Nothing is explained, and the speaker never says how they feel. That calm, matter-of-fact tone is part of the effect. The mood is wry, mysterious, and a little off-balance, as if ordinary roles have been flipped. The final image suggests a quiet loneliness or odd companionship, though the poem leaves that for the reader to decide.