Here a speaker looks at himself with weary, self-mocking honesty. He calls himself an "old bore" and a "dull lecturer," as if he has become someone people politely endure. Then comes a odd question: "am I a better captain / having lost the ship?" It reads as half joke, half real doubt. Maybe loss has taught him something, or maybe he is only telling himself that so the failure feels less bitter. The poem never answers.
The image of the ship suggests that something he once steered, perhaps a life, a career, or a family, is gone, and he has "ended in a sad home." The word "ended" sounds final. The last lines turn to evening, "like a great wound," a large, bleeding image of the day closing. Then the speaker admits he is "not able to miss," which could mean he can no longer feel longing for what he lost. The mood is quiet, bleak, and numb, with a thin streak of dark humor running through it.