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March Mourning

Text of Poem

The late snow is a fungus
smothering the earth,
is white dust bringing sleep,
everywhere is as still as sleep or death.

Only the road shows black and living,
only the road shows that men still come and go,
but you passed down this road
and do not come again.

When the trees no longer grieve with the wind
and rust freezes the axles,
when at last the road too lies white and unbroken,
we shall sleep with our love safe forever.

First Line
The late snow is a fungus
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1939
Original Citation
Wallace's Farmer. 11 March 1939. p. 6.
Republication
Complete Poems
34
Hearst Collections
Word Count
82
Poetic Form
open
Bibliographic Notes

Publication in Wallace's Farmer not cited in Ward.1939 publication date in Complete. It is possible that the Wallace's Farmer publication was to promote the release of Man and His Field.

Themes