The speaker stands apart from a lively crowd and a companion who is moved by it. The "you" weeps for the scene: people in tight circles, a young man with a swaying walk, laughter breaking out around them. The speaker sees the same scene coolly. The crowd is a "pattern" of legs and arms, and the young man's grace is "bovine," more animal than admirable. Nothing here seems to tempt the speaker in.
So the speaker walks away into the shadows. The other person's breath is "cold" even before it arrives, and a burst of coloured lights seems to cut the two of them off from each other, leaving "you" alone with yourself. The ending is the bleakest part. Even the moon looks down with contempt, and the speaker is fixed like a statue on a pedestal in an empty, dusty square. The mood is detached and a little bitter. The speaker seems proud of the distance, yet the closing image suggests it comes with loneliness.