The speaker is waiting for luggage at an airport when a man nearby, who seems slightly odd, suddenly screams into his phone. He has just learned that his grandson died in a beach accident, and the speaker finds out when he asks the man's companion. What begins as an ordinary, bored moment turns into something raw and public.
The speaker's feelings are tangled and honest. He wants to hold the sobbing man but also to give him privacy. When he tries to comfort the grandfather, the hug turns into an awkward pat on the shoulder, and he is left feeling helpless. The ending shifts the mood. The speaker and the woman who had shared his baffled gesture earlier look up at the same moment, cross the floor, and embrace. The poem suggests that when we can't help the person who is suffering, we still need to hold on to someone. The tone is quiet, plain, and tender.