The title suggests a memorial day, and the poem never says outright what is being remembered. Instead it gives us a small, quiet scene: a blade of grass, a flag moving in the spring breeze, a knoll with a shadow across it. The opening question sets the tone. Is the moisture on the grass dew or a tear? The speaker can't tell, and that uncertainty hints at grief hidden inside an ordinary morning. The grass even seems to bow, as if in respect.
The last lines turn cooler and more detached. The shadow is a "dark red stain," which suggests blood, though the poem doesn't spell that out. Then the speaker says it signifies "ownership of something by someone or other." That vague phrase sounds almost bored or bitter, as though the speaker is unsure who claims the land, or what the loss was for. The mood is hushed and uneasy: a peaceful spring scene with something heavy and unanswered underneath it.