Whose woods these are

Just back from my regular Wednesday morning run with my friend Tom. We almost didn’t go because of the cold (-10º C) but I’m glad we did: the early morning light in a forest hung with snow is a thing to behold. The snowfall of a few days ago brought down a few large branches so that our route was quite the obstacle course (though enjoyable in its way). It also made our normal half hour significantly longer and, because Tom had to be somewhere, he took the shortcut back to his car. This gave me the chance to enjoy the almost complete quiet (damn the din of traffic) of the woods to myself. I was enjoying the Frostian moment of solitude when it occurred to me that a Frostian moment would necessarily include thoughts of mortality. But that felt right, too. I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.