The poem sketches a couple who seemed destined to be together, the "ought-to-have-been couple." The phrase suggests a future that never quite arrived. They look "raw and pretty" side by side, which hints at both youth and vulnerability, as if their closeness is attractive but unprotected. Then the poem jumps: "he hit her." The line is blunt, with no cushioning, and the flat delivery makes it land harder.
The last lines describe "that former wit" as "now well married to a war." The phrasing is ambiguous. It could mean a man whose charm has been swallowed by conflict, or a relationship that has turned into a kind of battle. Either way, the marriage image is bitterly ironic: instead of a partner, he is bound to violence.
The speaker seems like an observer, not a participant, and the tone is cold, sad, and quietly angry. The poem's brevity and gaps leave the reader to feel what has been lost.