The speaker looks back on a former job with a mix of wistfulness and gentle mockery. The title, "Functionary," points to a minor official, someone who signs papers and keeps a system running. The opening lines read like a question asked of the past: what could I sign now, the way I once did, without worry or need? It suggests a time when the work asked for nothing deeper than a signature.
The poem's central joke is in the image of "many people to moo." Colleagues become cattle, and the speaker is one of the herd, with a "way laid out / like ground for cattle to use." The path was worn and predictable, which could feel confining, but the speaker says it was "good" to have an office. The mood is dry, a little funny, and quietly nostalgic. The speaker seems to see how dull and herd-like that life was, yet still misses its ease and certainty, and the poem leaves that mix of feelings unresolved.