A speaker walks through a snowy night past a summer theater that has been shut up for winter. Everything the poem notices is a reminder of something missing: the bells are "silent as bats," the hydrangeas are left with "soft brittle flowers," and the lights strung on them seem to belong to a livelier time. The place was built for crowds and noise, and now it is empty and still.
The one line that speaks directly is "I cannot stop the snow." It sounds simple, but it suggests a quiet helplessness, a feeling that time and change keep moving whether we want them to or not. The stars, which "follow their cold roads," seem equally distant and unstoppable.
The mood is hushed, cold, and a little haunted. By the end, window light on the trees makes shapes like "the ghosts of owls," so the empty scene feels visited by what used to be there. The speaker doesn't complain. They just watch, and the watching carries a gentle sadness.