The poem is built on a quiet irony. The first lines describe people so tender and melancholy that they cry like children, and the cause is oddly small: they have run into civil discourse at the halfway house. Polite, reasonable conversation moves them to tears, which suggests how rare it is in their lives, or how fragile they feel.
Then the last stanza turns. At supper, these "poor souls" fall out over saying grace. The gentleness doesn't last. Even a shared prayer before a meal becomes something to argue about.
The speaker seems sympathetic but also a little wry. "Poor souls" sounds affectionate and sad, not mocking. A halfway house is a place between one life and another, and judging by the poem, the residents are still unsettled and easily hurt. The mood is tender and bittersweet, with a flicker of dry humor. It shows people who long for kindness and yet struggle to hold on to it, even in a small, ordinary moment.