He walked by me with open eyes,
And wondered that I loved it so;
Above us stretched the gray, gray skies;
Behind us, foot-prints on the snow.
Before us slept a dark, dark wood.
Hemlocks were there, and little pines
Also; and solemn cedars stood
In even and uneven lines.
The branches of each silent tree
Bent downward, for the snow's hard weight
Was pressing on them heavily;
They had not known the sun of late.
( Except when it was afternoon,
And then a sickly sun peered in
A little while; it vanished soon
And then they were as they had been. )
There was no sound ( I thought I heard
The axe of some man far away )
There was no sound of bee, or bird,
Or chattering squirrel at its play.
And so he wondered I was glad.
— There was one thing he could not see;
Beneath the look these dead things had
I saw Spring eyes agaze at me.