The poem depicts two categories of people, the rulers and the ruled. The rulers are the politicians and the ruled are the masses. By implication, the rulers/ politicians have everything and are indifferent to the plight of the masses. The suffering of the masses is graphically presented: they are unprotected from the elements, being described as "shivering in their emaciated bones". And they lack sustenance, as the rice fields "are putrid marshlands" and mere shadows of their glorious past.
The anger of the poet is both self-directed and other directed. His helplessness at ameliorating the suffering of the masses is felt in the line — "let me be the hangman hanging myself." But the greater rage is reserved for the politicians who are responsible for the plight of the masses. The poem ends on a call to action against these politicians. Nothing but a revolution would do.