And put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
Then with cracked hands that ached
From labor in the weekday weather made
Banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
And slowly I would rise and dress,
Fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
Who had driven out the cold
And polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
Of love's austere and lonely offices?
This line implies that love motivates the father to do so much for his unappreciative family.  As a result, the man is lonely.  The adjectives ‘austere and lonely’ emphasise the speaker’s awareness as an adult and his feelings of guilt. 
 The long vowels in ‘love’, ‘austere’ and ‘lonely’ add to the heaviness and sadness. This again benefits from being read aloud. 
 This final line also implies that love is often unrequited.  The love of a parent for a child can be a one-way street and a lonely place to inhabit.
Those Winter Sundays