The speaker is grieving someone close, and the poem moves between jokes, tenderness, and flat refusal. It opens with a strange image: the dead person "came back as a moth." That could be a half-joking way of seeing a small visitor as a sign of the loved one. The next line, "You were being a pest," sounds like teasing, the kind of thing you say to someone you know well. The title, "Cry or Laugh," fits this mix, as if the speaker can't decide which reaction is right.
Then the tone softens. "We love you. / We miss you. / Can't wait to see you again" are short and plain, almost like words said at a grave. But the ending turns harder. "Be quiet old friend" suggests the speaker wants the voice, or the memory, to settle. The last two lines reject comfort, especially drinking: "Liquor will not heal my wounds." The mood is raw, awkward, and honest, with grief that doesn't wrap up neatly.