Ridpath's poem is a string of small, sharp memories from a childhood friendship, told in short, bare lines. The speaker remembers feeling invincible, as if they had super powers, then recalls a moment of real danger: a bow and arrow shot by "you" misses, and the metal tip burrows into the ground beside the speaker's feet. The poem treats this near miss quietly, without panic, which makes it feel like a memory the speaker has turned over many times.
After that, the images become still and plain: a shirt laid on concrete, dirty feet, scattered Polaroids. The photographs suggest the speaker is trying to piece the past together from scraps. The closing lines make that urgency clear, as the speaker fights for "one last memory" before youth is "deceased."
The mood is nostalgic and a little sad. The speaker seems to see that the feeling of being invincible was an illusion, and that growing up is a kind of loss.