Two tiny scenes sit side by side here, and the poem lets us feel what connects them without spelling it out. In the first, a church is packed with strangers, and among them one face looks up. Out of all that crowd, a single person stands out, caught in a moment of attention or perhaps longing. The title, "Up and down," seems to echo that lifted glance and perhaps the shifting of mood or scale from crowd to individual.
The second scene is quieter and a little funny: someone getting a haircut in winter, chatting about the history of mining. It is ordinary small talk, the kind we make to fill a silence with a stranger holding scissors. Mining also suggests digging down, which fits the title's contrast with looking up. The speaker seems calm, slightly detached, and observant. The mood is gentle and reflective, with a hint of loneliness in how easily strangers pass through our lives.