{
 "id": "william-carlos-williams/march",
 "title": "March",
 "poet": "William Carlos Williams",
 "poet_slug": "william-carlos-williams",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems",
 "book_slug": "sour-grapes",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 2,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1921,
  "venue": "Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems (1921)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
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  ]
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  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
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   "https://archive.org/details/temperscarlos00willrich",
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35667",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007676947"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 121,
  "n_stanzas": 20,
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  "longest_line_chars": 39,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Winter is long in this climate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and spring⁠—a matter of a few days",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "only⁠—a flower or two picked",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "from mud or from among wet leaves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "or at best against treacherous",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "bitterness of wind, and sky shining",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "teasingly, then closing in black",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and sudden, with fierce jaws.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "March,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "you remind me of",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "the pyramids, our pyramids⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "stript of the polished stone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that used to guard them!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "March,",
    "indent": 9
   },
   {
    "text": "you are like Fra Angelico",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "at Fiesole, painting on plaster!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "March,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "you are like a band of",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "young poets that have not learned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the blessedness of warmth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(or have forgotten it).",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "At any rate⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I am moved to write poetry",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "for the warmth there is in it",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and for the loneliness⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "a poem that shall have you",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in it March.",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "See!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ashur-ban-i-pal,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "the archer king, on horse-back,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in blue and yellow enamel!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "with drawn bow⁠—facing lions",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "standing on their hind legs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "fangs bared! his shafts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "bristling in their necks!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Sacred bulls⁠—dragons",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in embossed brickwork",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "marching⁠—in four tiers⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "along the sacred way to",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nebuchadnezzar’s throne hall!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They shine in the sun,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "they that have been marching⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "marching under the dust of",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "ten thousand dirt years.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Now⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "they are coming into bloom again!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "See them!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "marching still, bared by",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the storms from my calendar",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "—winds that blow back the sand!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "winds that enfilade dirt!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "winds that by strange craft",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "have whipt up a black army",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that by pick and shovel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "bare a procession to",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the god, Marduk!",
    "indent": 8
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Natives cursing and digging",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "for pay unearth dragons with",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "upright tails and sacred bulls",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "alternately⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in four tiers⁠—",
    "indent": 7
   },
   {
    "text": "lining the way to an old altar!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Natives digging at old walls⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "digging me warmth⁠—digging me",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "sweet loneliness⁠—",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "high enamelled walls.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My second spring⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "passed in a monastery",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "with plaster walls⁠—in Fiesole",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "on the hill above Florence.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My second spring⁠—painted",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "a virgin⁠—in a blue aureole",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "sitting on a three-legged stool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "arms crossed⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "she is intently serious,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and still",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "watching an angel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "with colored wings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "half kneeling before her⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and smiling⁠—the angel’s eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "holding the eyes of Mary",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "as a snake’s holds a bird’s.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the ground there are flowers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "trees are in leaf.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But! now for the battle!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now for murder⁠—now for the real thing!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My third springtime is approaching!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Winds!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "lean, serious as a virgin,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "seeking, seeking the flowers of March.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Seeking",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "flowers nowhere to be found,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "they twine among the bare branches",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in insatiable eagerness⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "they whirl up the snow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "seeking under it⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "they⁠—the winds⁠—snakelike",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "roar among yellow reeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "seeking flowers⁠—flowers.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I spring among them",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "seeking one flower",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in which to warm myself!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I deride with all the ridicule",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of misery⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "my own starved misery.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Counter-cutting winds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "strike against me",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "refreshing their fury!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Come, good, cold fellows!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Have we no flowers?",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "Defy then with even more",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "desperation than ever⁠—being",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "lean and frozen!",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But though you are lean and frozen⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "think of the blue bulls of Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Fling yourselves upon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "their empty roses⁠—",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "cut savagely!",
    "indent": 7
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "think of the painted monastery",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "at Fiesole.",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ]
 ]
}