The image of a wheeled chair implies that he is disabled and probably dependent on others. Legless, sewn short at elbow further implies the disability of the persona. The words waiting for dark, shivered and ghastly suit of grey imply his loneliness. Voices of boys rang saddening reminds him of the old times when he used to be like them, playing and enjoying himself. In the second stanza, the poet expresses the gaiety and liveliness of the town as compared to the first stanza filled with empty thoughts and coldness.
The phrase before he threw away his knees seemed to mock at him sacrificing his legs. The fact that he would never feel how slim girls waists are showed that he had lost the privilege of being a typical man. Touch him like some queer disease implies that the girls probably stayed as far away from him as possible, avoiding much contact. In the past, artists liked to draw his face as he did not look his age. It is different now as he looks older than his age. Irony is used here.
In the first stanza, it is known that he had already lost his legs and that that affected his whole life. In the fourth stanza, we are presented with a scene from before the war when he had felt proud to sustain an injury while playing football on the field. Then, he was worshipped and celebrated like a hero. He joined the army partly because of his vanity. The phrase hed look a god in kilts showed that he thought he would look good and impressive in his army uniform. He also wanted to display his manliness to impress the girls.
He had lied about his age to join the army. It implied that he was probably underage. He probably knew that he was too young to be accepted and therefore the lie. The fifth stanza showed mostly portraits of his dreams. For example daggers in plaid socks, smart salutes, care of arms, etc. He did not even experience any fear no fears of Fear. This showed that he was rather ignorant and had many illusions of good life in the army. However, his army career was soon over and he was drafted out.
Some cheered him home showed that he did earn some respect for sacrificing himself and joining the army. However, this cheering was not as much as he had received when he had been an athlete scoring a goal. This showed that people probably treated joining the army as a necessity and not a sacrifice while being an athlete needs talent that not everyone has. He used to have people carrying him on their soldiers, but now all his reward for his sacrifice was a lone man bringing him fruits, nothing more.
Yet, what he had sacrificed was worth more that some fruits. He had sacrificed his legs and a major part of his life. Women barely glanced at him as he was considered as incomplete, as compared to other men. He was rather useless now that he had no legs. He was dependent on young women to even help him into bed contrary to before, where he could even help them, instead of vice versa. The repetition of the phrase Why dont they come implied that he was waiting for something to happen, perhaps for death to put an end to his suffering.
