The poem describes a dead animal found in the woods. The title is the only place the word "corpse" appears, and the details point to a young deer: the soft spotted hide, the pointed feet. Judging by those clues, it was a fawn. It has been opened up, its ribs cracked and its heart taken, and the speaker comes across what is left, almost hidden among brown leaves.
The speaker never says "I feel sad," but the feeling comes through in the word choices. "Such a little thing" sounds gentle and almost tender, as if the speaker is looking down at it with sorrow. Calling the heart "child-sized" pushes the emotion further, because it makes the animal seem like a human child and the loss feel heavier. The short lines and plain, quiet description create a hushed, stunned mood. Nothing is explained or softened, and the poem ends on the missing heart, leaving the reader with the bare, unsettling image.