In a cold, misty landscape, the speaker watches a woman’s deep footprints cross the snow toward the pines. He cannot see her through the white mist, but he knows she is waiting for him, restless and cold, fighting back tears. The poem captures his dread and guilt: he is walking slowly up the steep hill because he has something painful to tell her, something that will mean goodbye. He asks why she comes so willingly when she must sense that their meeting will only bring the end closer. The mood is bleak and still, full of winter’s grey light and muffled emotion. Her eagerness makes his burden heavier, because she is moving toward a farewell she may already feel coming.
A Winter's Tale — Summary
Yesterday the fields were only grey with scattered snow, And now the longest grass-leaves hardly emerge; Yet her deep footsteps mark the snow, and go On towards the pines at the hills' white verge.
I cannot see her, since the mist's white scarf Obscures the dark wood and the dull orange sky; But she's waiting, I know, impatient and cold, half Sobs struggling into her frosty sigh.
Why does she come so promptly, when she must know That she's only the nearer to the inevitable farewell; The hill is steep, on the snow my steps are slow-- Why does she come, when she knows what I have to tell?