The poem follows a group of travelers who have moved beyond fear and arrive at a labyrinth. We might expect a maze to hold a hidden meaning or a prize at the center, but the speaker finds "nothing in it / but accidents like dust." The things that happen to us are random and small, settling over everything without any plan.
The tone is quiet and unhurried. There is no panic and no grand revelation. The speaker seems calm, even accepting, about a world that is "in pieces." Then the last lines turn: the only design anywhere is "love." The poem suggests that life has no built-in blueprint, and that meaning comes from how we treat each other as we wander through it. The title's "pilgrims" hints that the journey matters more than any destination. The mood is gentle, a little sad, and finally consoling.