The speaker begins by listing what he doesn't have: no ale, no wine, no ornaments, hardly any food, no wife, no girl nearby. Yet he doesn't complain. He has his pipe, and with it he can sit, smoke, and "woo the Muse," courting poetry the way someone else might court a lover. While that works, he says, he wouldn't swap places with a king.
The last stanza turns the mood around. When the Muse fails him, when the inspiration won't come, he suddenly wants everything he did without: wife, ornaments, meat, wine and ale. The list from the opening comes back, this time as a craving rather than a shrug.
The tone is light, plain, and a little wry. Short lines and simple rhymes give it the feel of a casual confession. The poem suggests that his contentment depends entirely on creative inspiration. Without it, a simple life feels empty, and he is honest enough to admit that.