Nothing Gold Can Stay

I got up early to take a walk in the woods behind my house this week. I'd seen this field of ferns I wanted to take a picture of in the morning light. I'm not sure I captured how magical it looked with mist in the air and the sun shining through the trees but I tried.

As I walked quietly down the path toward the spot I had in mind, it was a bit chilly and I could see my breath in spots, I noticed our neighbor, Howard already there. He was gliding along the path, silent and stealthy like a ghost. He didn't make a sound and never stopped to catch his breath, though he was walking the steep path to the top of the hill with his old cat and dog trailing behind. I guess his age to be between 70-75 and he was so in his element and so sure footed there in the misty morning. I paused to let him get ahead of me so as not startle him, then continued on to visit the small pond where he'd just come from. I wondered, after watching him, is this the fountain of youth?

The second photo, entitled Nothing Gold Can Stay, reminds me of my favorite poem by the great Robert Frost.
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
This photo is available for purchase.