I.Introduction Once, walking in winter in Vermont, In the snow, I followed a set of footprints That aimed for the woods. At the verge I could make out, “far in the pillared dark,” An old creature in a huge, clumsy overcoat, Lifting his great boots through the drifts, Going as if to die among “those dark trees” Of his own country. I watched him go, Past a house, quiet, warm, and light, A farm, a countryside, a woodpile in its slow Smokeless burning, alder swamps ghastly white, Tumultuous snows, blanker whiteness, I. Introduction once, walking in winter in Vermont, In the snow, I followed a set of footprints That aimed for the woods. At the verge I could make out, “far in the pillared dark,” An old creature in a huge, clumsy overcoat, Lifting his great boots through the drifts, Going as if to die among “those dark trees ” Of his own country. I watched him go, Past a house, quiet, warm, and light, A farm, a countryside, a woodpile in its slow Smokeless burning, alder swamps ghastly white, Tumultuous snows, blanker whiteness,