Poetry Sunday: March by William Cullen Bryant
And so we've come to March already as the days and weeks of this new year fly by. March can be, as William Cullen Bryant describes, a stormy month in more northerly climes. Here, near the Gulf Coast, it is generally more peaceful, but we shall see just what she has up her sleeves for us this year.
March
by William Cullen Bryant
The stormy March is come at last,With wind, and cloud, and changing skies,
Ah, passing few are they who speak,
Wild stormy month! in praise of thee;
Yet, though thy winds are loud and bleak,
Thou art a welcome month to me.
For thou, to northern lands, again
The glad and glorious sun dost bring,
And thou hast joined the gentle train
And wear'st the gentle name of Spring.
And, in thy reign of blast and storm,
Smiles many a long, bright, sunny day,
When the changed winds are soft and warm,
And heaven puts on the blue of May.
Then sing aloud the gushing rills
And the full springs, from frost set free,
That, brightly leaping down the hills,
Are just set out to meet the sea.
The year's departing beauty hides
Of wintry storms the sullen threat;
But in thy sternest frown abides
A look of kindly promise yet.
Thou bring'st the hope of those calm skies,
And that soft time of sunny showers,
When the wide bloom, on earth that lies,
Seems of a brighter world than ours.
This is really quite lovely. March has come in like the proverbial lion here. Right now it is minus 19 degrees C. We just need to be patient and the first green shoots of spring will bring joy.
ReplyDeleteA lion indeed! Stay warm, David.
DeleteMarch is top-turvy just like he says .... but with the hope of calm skies and wide bloom!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to those "wide blooms."
DeleteWe sometimes get terrible storms in March, when the cold from the north hits the warmth from the Gulf.
ReplyDeleteYes, we've been lucky for a while but no doubt our luck will run out one of these days.
DeleteI don't think I've ever read a poem by William Cullen Bryant before. I like it.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy to have been able to introduce you!
DeleteMarch is such a changeable month where I live. We can get some of our worst snows in March and I'm crossing fingers, with our rock salt shortage here. But the red winged blackbirds are back (they always come around the last week of February) making their trilling sounds, and I think we may have some area snowdrops blooming next week. That poem captured our feel of March nicely.
ReplyDeleteWe used to get great flocks of blackbirds in the yard around the feeders in March, but they haven't come this year. Not sure why.
Delete