A speaker spots a dead finch in the garden and reacts with a strange, cold distance. The bird has "fallen like a memory of the world / I do not believe in", as if this small death belongs to a lost or rejected way of seeing things, one where nature, beauty and meaning once felt real. The speaker no longer trusts that world, yet the fallen bird still stings.
The second stanza turns hard. The speaker says they "work out" their joy "with a gun now", which suggests joy has become something violent, forced or twisted. The reason is blunt: "the song is dead." The finch's song seems to stand for whatever once made life feel alive, and without it, the speaker finds a harsher outlet.
The mood is bleak, numb and quietly menacing. The poem's brevity makes it feel like a confession, and the title "Warrior" adds irony: this fighter looks less heroic than empty, someone who lost something tender and answered with force.