Statues are the poem's central image for people, and it traces a life from bright beginning to bitter end. At the start, statues are "flawless," cute and photogenic, admired for a short time before anything has been asked of them. The speaker suggests that people love sparkle, but that only "beasts" actually offer the rings, meaning real commitment seems to come from the wrong kind of person. Once "the clock strikes noon," youth and chances fade, and the butterflies lose their wings.
The middle stanzas turn bleak. Years cover everything in sand, life goes rusty, and nobody offers a helping hand. By the end, the statues are nameless, crumbling and "devastated by being let down," and they simply freeze.
The speaker sounds disillusioned and tired, almost resigned. The neat, repeated rhymes and the opening and closing echo ("born the same," "lost the same") make the mood feel like a closed loop, as though this fate is hard to escape.