Read quickly, the poem is a short, uneasy look at appetite. The first stanzas describe a world that digs and sifts for valuables, sieving "all the earth" for diamonds while some places are left "dirt poor" because of the hunt for gold. The title, "Conquistador," points to the figure of the plunderer, and the speaker seems to include us all in that role by saying "we."
Then the tone turns personal. "I thought myself safe / before the music played" suggests a sudden moment of exposure, as if the speaker believed they stood apart from this greed until something, perhaps a feeling or a realization, broke that comfort. The music is left unexplained, which makes it feel a little eerie.
The last lines are the most striking: "as if we might eat / one another and live." The image is of consumption turned inward, where taking from others becomes a kind of cannibalism. The mood is uneasy and accusing, and the speaker seems more troubled than angry.