Dave Bonta's "Hapless" begins with a question that has no easy answer: how do you mourn someone who was never happy? Grief usually leans on good memories, but here the speaker faces lives that offer little of that comfort. The sadness is more complicated, because the loss seems to have started long before death.
The second stanza makes unhappiness feel natural and unstoppable, "falling like sleep" over a body the speaker calls a "wild wonder." That phrase shows real tenderness. The speaker sees how marvelous a person is, while pointing out that "nobody prizes" it. The ache comes from that gap between worth and neglect.
The final lines are harder to pin down. Water "held in flux" suggests something true that can't be fixed in place, perhaps the speaker's own uncertain feelings. The mood is quiet, compassionate, and unresolved, like a question left open on purpose.