What is the theme of "Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock"?

The poem seems to be about loneliness and regret. The
white nightgowns that "haunt" the houses refer to brides who do not inhabit these
dwellings; the descriptive colors of the absent nightgowns convey a melancholy regret at
the loss of energy and joy that might have come with marriage and partnership. The many
color combinations echo the change of the seasons, the change in fashions a man living
with a woman might recognize. It is an old fashioned set of images conveying an old
fashioned sensibility of marriage. "Disillusionment at 10 o'clock" refers quite
literally to the feeling of regret and loss that occurs each night at bedtime, when the
old sailor, drunk and asleep in his boots (with no helpmeet to assist him in dressing
for bed), realizes he is alone. The "red weather" is a sexual image, referring to the
constant presence of sexual frustration and possibly anger at being alone. Catching
"tigers" is also a sexual image, a fantasy of wild animals and distant shores filling in
for the loss of a fulfilling family life the old sailor
rejected.