The poem sets two scenes side by side. In the first, a group of men talk elegantly, and the speaker compares them to birds perched on a wire: lined up, chattering, a little interchangeable. The phrase "fine discourse" sounds admiring, but the bird image keeps it at a distance. It suggests noise and display more than real connection.
In the second scene, the speaker says nothing. Instead of joining in, they hold onto a "memory of being stone." That is a strange, striking phrase. Stone is silent, heavy, still, and unbothered, and the speaker seems to recall that state almost with longing, or at least with familiarity. It may describe how an introvert feels in a crowd: quiet on the outside, and drawn toward something deep and solid within.
The mood is calm, wry, and slightly lonely. The speaker doesn't seem angry at the talkers, just apart from them. The silence feels less like a failure to speak and more like a different way of being present.