The poem opens with a kamikaze pilot setting off on his mission. Kamikaze pilots wre specially trained Japanses pilots who were used towards the end of World War 2. They flew planes on suicide mission into enemy ships - it was seens as a great honour to serve your country in this way
It becomes clear that the pilot turned around and didn't complete his mission - his daughter imagines that this was becausse on the way he saw the beauty of nature and remembered his innocent childhood
the pilot was shunned when he got home - even his family acted as if he wasn't there.
