yellow wood ... harvest time; maturity; no longer young; leaves still yellowing, but not fading or brown

Past tense ... this is a symbolic account of what happened to the speaker in the poem

Future tense at the end ... this is a story that will bear repeating because the choice that was
made was a pivotal one; the sigh is not so much of regret, but wonderment of what may have
happened had the choice been different. However, it is clear that the choice that was made
produced a direction both inexorable and determining.