News at Eleven: The old man, however,

is prevented from meeting the night's gaze. Frost tells us that the old man's concerns are more interior. His memory is failing him:

"What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze/Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand./What kept him from remembering what it was/That brought him to that creaking room was age./He stood with barrels around him--at a loss."

And notice how the sound of the "creaking room" would certainly echo in the old man's bones.

from The Age: A poet's winter windfall

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