Travelogue

The long march - the days brief and rushing,
O'er rough hewn rocks and craggy paths
Boulders standing large, with huge girths
Like sentries to prevent passing.

Oftentimes, sudden a rush of sounds
Of Tartars riding from their lair,
The sound of hooves diffused o'er air
Like morse code of death floating mid mounds.

Rain blow snow in day and night
Inured to all the storm and sleet
In biting cold, in scorching heat
Endless trudge from height to height.

But perhaps at journey's end there is verdure
And the torturing joy of the One to endure.


I reproduce below the whole poem with its metrical scheme, a / denoting a flick and _ denoting a stroke.
The red vertical line denotes the scansion of span.
The long march| - the days brief and rushing,
 /      _     _           /     _      _      /     _   /  ; 
O'er rough hewn rocks| and craggy paths
 /       _        _       _       /      _   /     _   ;  
Boulders standing large,| with huge girths
 _     /      _      /     _        /       _      _   ;
Like sentries| to prevent passing.
/       _    _     /   _    _    _    /    ;     I am not sure if the syllabic quantitiesof sentries is correct.
                                                     My calculations give a 3:5 quantity for the two syllables which would
                                                     mean both are flicks, the second at most a rover.
Oftentimes, sudden| a rush of sounds
 _       _         _      /   _      /     _   ;      A run of three stokes followed by two iambs.
Of Tartars riding| from their lair,
 /    _    /     _  /     _     /      _  ;    Amphibrach, trochee, _/_  ; the from hover is a stroke while their a flick.
                                                   If considered as four iambs then it disagrees with the span.     
The sound of hooves| diffused o'er air
 /      _       /      _        /    _      /     _  ; exactly as the line before.
Like morse code of death| floating mid mounds.
 _       _        _      /     _      _   /     /       _   ;   An extra trochee before the penultimate iamb when  compared
                                                                      to the first line. However the rythm sound right: not so without
                                                                      the extra trochee.
Rain blow snow| in day and night
_       _      _      /     _     /      _    ;    A run of three strokes followed by two iambs. Her there is absolutely
                                                        no crossdraw between span and metric feet.
Inured to all| the storm and sleet   
 /  _      /   _   /     _       /     _   ;     Four iambs; here too no crossdraw.
In biting cold,| in scorching heat
/   _  /      _      /   _        /    _    ; Four iambs with no crossdraw; agrees with the preceeding line.
Endless trudge from height to height.
 _     _     _         /         _    /    _   ;   Exact replica of the first line of the stanza.

But perhaps| at journey's end| there is verdure
 /     /    _       /    _     /      /      _     /    /   _   ;  Anapest, paeon, cretic agreeing with no crossdraw.
And the torturing joy| of the One| to endure.
  /      /    _  /   /     _    /   /    _      /   /    _   ;   Paeon, _ followed by two anapests. Though the
                                                                     sequence of flicks and strokes is the same yet the
                                                                     thought span does not not agree with the earlier line's feet.

I dedicate this poem to Bhombol Das.