Gwyn's poem describes the experience of emotional numbness, and the loneliness that comes with it. The speaker stands under cold water, yet feels nothing on the surface, while something still fights inside. Soon even that gives way, and the senses seem to shut down one by one. The speaker says they went from crying to feeling like "another robot," a "feelingless person," though the line "you didn't know how much it did" hints that the numbness hides real pain rather than a lack of it.
The second half turns outward. Life carries on, everyone goes back to their routines, and the speaker wonders why nobody cares. Then comes a quiet, painful realization: they had done everything expected of them except hide the pain, and no one noticed that one failure. The mood is flat, heavy and isolated, and the plain, unpunctuated style fits the feeling. The closing image of a "small world" leaves the speaker alone with it.