The poem describes the miserable conditions faced by soldiers in the trenches during World War I. It depicts the soldiers as cold, weary, and numb while being battered by the harsh winter weather. As the poem progresses, the soldiers lose their senses and memories as they drift into an empty, lifeless state. By the end, the soldiers have become frozen ghosts waiting to be buried by others who can barely recognize their faces, as nothing meaningful seems to happen or change in the trenches.