The time for wind and far scudding cloud,
Turned forward clocks and lightening nights
Repeating ‘white rabbits’ threefold out loud,
Julius Caesar’s swift demise in the Ides,
Of Vernal equinox and swelling Spring tides.
So what of the ninth day of March?
Copernicus’ first astronomical observation,
On this day, the French Foreign Legion was founded,
In 1009 they wrote ‘Lithuania’ down as a nation,
While the Great Blizzard of eighteen ninety one,
left England frost-white and largely impounded.
Enough of inundation, March and the nine
Capricious history always jockeys for room,
And whilst on the subject of jockeys!
George Stevens rode brave Emblematic
To win the 26th Grand National and a packet,
Underneath skies as dark as the tomb.
A. McTiernan
