The poem moves between two visits to the forest, one in childhood and one in old age. In the first, a group of children play at being in danger until a woman in a red shawl, carrying a cane, appears and chases them off. She tells them to get out of her woods. Instead of putting the children off, her anger makes them fear the forest and love it more.
Fifty years later, the speaker has "a forest of my own," and the tone turns quiet and settled. The woods are no longer a place of play or fright but of solace and stillness. The speaker walks alone, follows a fox, and listens for owls. It's hard not to notice that the speaker may now be the one who guards the woods, much like the witch once did.
The ending is gentle. In autumn, the speaker looks for the hazel's "late, late yellow bloom," a small sign of life arriving when most things are fading. The mood is calm, patient, and a little wistful.