Dear March – Come in!

Posted March 1st, 2010 by Jen in family life, features, poetry, the ranch

How are things in your part of the world? It may not feel like spring, but I know it’s coming, the calendar tells me so. And also the sky, the birds, the tiny signs of life I see poking through the ground.

Are you still covered with snow? Is the wind chilling you to the core? Take heart, it’s March! That means April and May are just around the corner. Are you thinking about what you’ll plant in your garden this year? I am, and I hope to add a few things to the mix this year. We started some vegetables last week, but here in Central Oregon, the rule of thumb on when to plant outdoors is “when the snow is gone from Black Butte,” which tends to be about June 1st!

Here is a lovely poem by Emily Dickinson, one of the greatest poets to ever write about nature, next to David. Enjoy these lines, and enjoy your March.

Dear March, Come in!
by Emily Dickinson (1830-86)

Dear March, Come in!

How glad I am!

I looked for you before.
Put down your hat —

You must have walked —

How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,
I have so much to tell!

I got your letter, and the bird’s;

The maples never knew
That you were coming, — I declare,

How red their faces grew!

But March, forgive me —

And all those hills
You left for me to hue;

There was no purple suitable,

You took it all with you.

Who knocks?
That April!

Lock the door!

I will not be pursued!

He stayed away a year, to call

When I am occupied.
But trifles look so trivial

As soon as you have come,
That blame is just as dear as praise

And praise as mere as blame.

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6 Responses

  1. Renae March 1st, 2010 at 9:10 am

    Thank you for sharing this poem. We are studying poetry in my literature class and this will be wonderful to share with my children.

  2. Fencepost March 1st, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    No snow over here. We don’t get much anyway. But the wind is cold. I’m sure it is much colder where you are. I am glad to see March and will be happier to see April. I’ll probably start planting about mid-May. I can’t wait till the winds are warm again and I can start planting.

  3. Julie March 4th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    oR MY SWEET mOUNTAIN man’s take on March – he wrote a poem from the perspective of the Mountains he loves and lives in 8 months of the year, “My mountains are missing me” and how he is going to reunite with them soon.

    I love to read his poetry in March!!

  4. Nancy Robinett March 4th, 2010 at 8:19 pm

    nice Dickinsonian anthropomorphism. This March is very springlike in the pacific northwest. I travelled through south central Washington today and it was lovely, lovely. Saw pruners desperately finishing up their jobs in the orchards, before the new growth starts.

  5. Jen March 4th, 2010 at 11:26 pm

    Renae, yes, share it with the children, and have them write one! I just had all my students write their “I Am From” poems and am making a little book for them, with a compilation of them all – what a treasure!

    Fencepost, I actually think Oregon is warmer than North Carolina right now!

    Julie, well, aren’t you going to share the poem with us?!

    Nancy, thank you so much for coming by! I’m glad you had a nice drive today, this weather is amazing. Will it hold?

  6. Jen March 4th, 2010 at 11:32 pm

    Nancy, I meant to say, doesn’t the woman on my March blog header totally look like Mom when she was young? I couldn’t figure out exactly why I was drawn to this painting, and I had a different one picked out for March, but I just realized it tonight. It’s Mom.

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