The speaker in these few lines would rather sing alone than go home and face grief. Home, here, seems less like a place of comfort and more like somewhere sorrow is waiting, so the song becomes a way of putting off that meeting, or of keeping the pain at a distance.
The second stanza turns to address a "war horse," which may be a figure for the speaker's own tough, tired self, or for something that carried them through hard times. The "way" has "turned into more convenience," and the line sounds quietly regretful. The title, "Ex-nomad," points the same direction: a life of wandering has given way to something easier and more settled, and something has been lost in the trade.
The mood is wistful and subdued, with a stubborn thread of defiance in that private singing. The poem never explains the grief, and that restraint makes it feel more real.