Dannie Abse A Scene From Married Life

We see the persona remembering an argument he has had with his wife and how the words were said out of spite. 

In the third stanza we get the impression that the persona is stuck in the marriage and he can't escape from the line - 'resentful wedlock'. 

In the sixth stanza we see the persona giving in and surrendering to his wife - 'with surrendering waves I crawled to the shore'. 

The last stanza suggests that even though they would agree to stop fighting that it would never last long - suggested by 'and then...'

You could compare this poem to Larkin's Talking in Bed, with both using nature to describe mood and emotion.