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The speaker admits sharing in a family's irresponsible drinking and describes it as drinking wine "to her death". The family wants to prolong the night as though Fay's life could continue.

The speaker quotes a funeral phrase and names wine and Scotch. The speaker admits responsibility for the drinking without specifying its timing in relation to Fay's death.

Under the handwritten title 'Ashes to Ashes Dust to Dust', the speaker admits 'I was just as irresponsible as the rest / Sitting there drinking wine to her death', while the family wanted the night to go on 'To make of the night her life silll alive'. The last couplet names her: 'Her name was Fay / Scotch was abundent'.

The poem is a wake scene in three spare couplets, and the speaker includes himself in the drinking rather than standing apart. The burial-service title set against the plain facts of wine, Scotch and a name gives the page a flat, guilty tone.