"Squire" captures a late-night moment in a relationship that has quietly run out of feeling. The speaker lies in bed beside a tired partner, and the conversation is short and flat. An apology is offered, but the speaker admits it isn't fully true. They would rather be miles away, and the thought of facing this person is something they want to avoid.
The second stanza steps into a memory, or a different voice: a woman asking "I'll see you tomorrow?" with a smile, running her hands through the speaker's hair. Her affection is hopeful, and it seems to pull the speaker's heart "astray," which suggests guilt and divided loyalty. The poem doesn't spell out the situation, so who she is stays a little uncertain.
The mood is heavy and weary. The short, plain lines and repeated rhymes ("red," "dead") make everything feel stuck. By the end, the speaker retreats "back into my head," and the final admission, "it's hard when love is dead," lands as tired honesty rather than drama.