The speaker wanders through an urban environment during the early hours of the morning. They experience a breakdown of standard linear time, suffering from disjointed memories and a deep sense of urban alienation. Throughout their walk, they observe fragments of life that reflect their internal feelings of emptiness and routine.

Personified fixtures of the city, the streetlamps act as guides and commentators during the speaker's walk. They speak, mutter, and hum, directing the speaker's attention to various sights like a woman in an open doorway. Ultimately, they instruct the speaker to return home, mount the stairs, and prepare for daily life.

The moon is personified as a feeble, memory-less woman. Instead of a traditional romantic figure, she appears sick, her face marked by washed-out smallpox craters, and she clutches a paper rose. Her presence breaks down the speaker's normal thought processes, drawing out fragmented, useless memories.

A figure standing in a doorway, whose torn and sand-stained dress suggests poverty or a difficult life. The corner of her eye twists like a crooked pin, providing a visual cue that triggers the speaker's memories of other broken and discarded things.

A solitary creature scavenging for food on the dark streets. It silently slips out its tongue to eat a morsel of rancid butter, moving automatically and instinctively to survive the night.

A child from the speaker's past who automatically pockets a toy running along the quay. The child's eye is completely blank, lacking the natural curiosity or joy usually associated with youth.

An old sea creature covered in barnacles from the speaker's past. The speaker recalls holding a stick out to the animal, which gripped it with pure, thoughtless instinct.