March

Isabella Valancy Crawford 1850 (Dublin) – 1887 (Toronto)



Shall Thor with his hammer
Beat on the mountain,
As on an anvil,
A shackle and fetter?

Shall the lame Vulcan
Shout as he swingeth
God-like his hammer,
And forge thee a fetter?

Shall Jove, the Thunderer,
Twine his swift lightnings
With his loud thunders,
And forge thee a shackle?

'No,' shouts the Titan,
The young lion-throated;
'Thor, Vulcan, nor Jove
Cannot shackle and bind me.'

Tell what will bind thee,
Thou young world-shaker,
Up vault our oceans,
Down fall our forests.

Ship-masts and pillars
Stagger and tremble,
Like reeds by the margins
Of swift running waters.

Men's hearts at thy roaring
Quiver like harebells
Smitten by hailstones,
Smitten and shaken.

'O sages and wise men!
O bird-hearted tremblers!
Come, I will show ye
A shackle to bind me.

I, the lion-throated,
The shaker of mountains!
I, the invincible,
Lasher of oceans!

'Past the horizon,
Its ring of pale azure
Past the horizon,
Where scurry the white clouds,

There are buds and small flowers--
Flowers like snow-flakes,
Blossoms like rain-drops,
So small and tremulous.

Therein a fetter
Shall shackle and bind me,
Shall weigh down my shouting
With their delicate perfume!'

But who this frail fetter
Shall forge on an anvil,
With hammer of feather
And anvil of velvet?

Past the horizon,
In the palm of a valley,
Her feet in the grasses,
There is a maiden.

She smiles on the flowers,
They widen and redden,
She weeps on the flowers,
They grow up and kiss her.

She breathes in their bosoms,
They breathe back in odours;
Inarticulate homage,
Dumb adoration.

She shall wreathe them in shackles,
Shall weave them in fetters;
In chains shall she braid them,
And me shall she fetter.

I, the invincible;
March, the earth-shaker;
March, the sea-lifter;
March, the sky-render;

March, the lion-throated.
April the weaver
Of delicate blossoms,
And moulder of red buds--

Shall, at the horizon,
Its ring of pale azure,
Its scurry of white clouds,
Meet in the sunlight.

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:39 min read
125

Quick analysis:

Scheme abca bdaa aefc bgxh daix fcif jexb xehh giCi BABk fxxx ahjx acax Bhxb fbfa eexb xfxa Caaa gaxx bAkx
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,855
Words 332
Stanzas 20
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Isabella Valancy Crawford

Isabella Valancy Crawford was an Irish-born Canadian writer and poet. more…

All Isabella Valancy Crawford poems | Isabella Valancy Crawford Books

0 fans

Discuss the poem March with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "March" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/19912/march>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    16
    hours
    19
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who wrote the 1892 poem Gunga Din?
    A Ho Xuan Huong
    B Rudyard Kipling
    C Alfred, Lord Tennyson
    D Walt Whitman