The speaker is in constant pain and drinks to dull it, though the poem says even that isn't enough. Walking alone through dark, empty streets, they wonder whether life has any point. The darkness feels so heavy that it swallows even the faintest light.
What makes the poem interesting is how it treats Alix, the person it's addressed to. At first the speaker sounds irritated, calling their talk useless and their friends stupid. Yet that unwanted company, oddly, makes the speaker "want to live for something." The anger and the need seem tangled together. By the end, the tone softens. Alix keeps finding the speaker drunk in the street, worrying about where they've been and whether they're okay, and even puts the speaker's "broken bones" before their own, while neglecting themselves. The mood is bleak and weary, but a thin thread of gratitude runs through it. The speaker may not say thank you directly, but the closing lines show they notice the care.