Page 166 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2023 SPECIAL CRUISE EDTION

All around, sugar maples, yellow birch, and
beech swayed gently in the breeze accompa-
nying the soft squish of my steps on the hu-
mid earth. The first plaque bearing Frost's
sonnet, Putting in the seed, soon appeared
amidst the foliage, one of Frost's better-
known poetic legacies illustrating the
themes of nature and human relationships.
As if on cue, the shriek of a bird ripped the
stillness. A few steps away, a break in the
dappled light illuminated The Oven Bird, one
of the poet's best-known sonnets from his
collection Mountain Interval.

"There is a singer everyone has heard.
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the tree trunks sound again. . .

Mowing, another of Frost's masterpieces,
lauded the benefits of hard work and "mak-
ing hay," a theme he focused on time and
again to depict life in rural New England. The
sudden crash of a dead branch provided the
soundtrack for The Sound of the Trees, one
of the most beloved poems of the four-time-
winner of the Pulitzer prize for poetry. Here,
in Frost's back yard, I experienced the im-
portance of Nature, from the rustle of the
wind to the upturned roots of a rotting tree
trunk, that permeates the poet's works.
My meanderings continued with Birches,
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and
The Road Not Taken, arguably Frost's best-
known work. I stood rooted in place, linger-
ing on the verses, wondering which path to

166 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SPRING 2023