The Road to the Spring: Collected Poems of Mary Austin

March

385 March In March the corn land stubble pales Before the wind’s bright flails; And the blackbirds’ whirling braid Is scattered as seed to be summer’s shade. At the town’s edge the human waste Scurries in shame and haste, Hopeful, as dust, To the nearest rag-weed root to be laid; And the tin-can heap augments its rust. And what, with the stubble and dust are tossed, For the cool March flaw to fling in my face— Grit in my mouth of unreckoned cost, And what was so sweet is a dusty taste— Of the year’s loves I have lost. But when April comes with her kissing rain, And sooth to the plough the warm earth yields, I shall be out in the greening fields, Planting young loves again. Editor’s Notes AU 338; typescript and three carbon copies, one very clean. ...