Each poem mentioned in the book has a slightly different meaning. In the first poem, the woodpecker is wishing, “if only, if only. . . the bark on the tree was just a little bit softer”, meaning the bark is too hard to peck through (pg. 8). The hungry and lonely wolf is crying to the moon, “if only, if only”, meaning he is whining to the moon while he sits there without a pack of wolves and hungry. Both poems are saying that even birds and wolves wish things were easier in life. To sum it up, each poem had a different meaning.
Both of the poems apply to Stanley. The first poem applies to Stanley because Stanley is like the woodpecker and wolf. He wishes things were easier in life, like the woodpecker wishes the bark on the tree was softer