In just a few lines, the speaker describes a painful trade-off. The title, "Breadwinner," suggests someone who works to provide for a family, but the poem shows what that role costs. Night after night, the speaker is missing from the dinner table, and instead of the family feeling the loss, the speaker feels it most: their own absence "ate me up." It's a clever twist, since a meal is where people are fed and brought together, yet here the empty chair does the consuming.
The final line, "work is an ogre," is blunt and almost childlike, like something from a fairy tale. It names the culprit plainly, as if the speaker has stopped trying to justify the situation. An ogre devours people, which echoes the earlier eating image and ties the two ideas together.
The mood is quiet, guilty, and a little resigned. There's regret here, but also a sense of being trapped by a duty the speaker can't easily set down.