Someone is trying to hold onto a single memory of another person, even though the past has made that hard. The speaker keeps returning to the line "save that memory / despite the past," like a plea repeated until it sounds almost like a prayer.
The poem is built on contrast. The first half uses prepositions that suggest closeness: "into his soul," "in his hands," "above his heart." The second half flips them to words of distance and opposition: "away from his soul," "outside of his heart," "against his hands." Judging by this shift, the closeness has turned into separation or hurt. The body parts stay the same, but the relationship to them changes.
The mood is aching and obsessive. The repetition makes the speaker seem stuck, unable to move past the loss but unwilling to let go of the one good thing. The poem suggests that memory is something to protect, even when it hurts.