Madi's "Gates" is about getting over someone, or at least claiming to. The speaker announces that thoughts of this person are gone and that their memory no longer torments them. At first it sounds like a victory: the freedom brings "happiness beyond belief," and the speaker describes themselves as liberated, no longer a prisoner of their own mind.
But the second stanza complicates that cheerful claim. The speaker admits they smile less and no longer linger at their reflection. Those small details suggest a cost. Freedom here seems to come with a certain flatness, as if the pain has been switched off along with some of the joy. The word "but" does a lot of work, leaning against the happiness the speaker insists on.
The mood is calm, plain and a little guarded. The title, "Gates," fits the language of prisoners and liberation, though the poem leaves open whether the gates have truly opened or the speaker is still persuading themselves.