Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A GULL GOES UP, by LEONIE ADAMS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A GULL GOES UP, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Gulls when they fly move in a liquid arc
Last Line: That only bear the feathered heart no weight.
Alternate Author Name(s): Troy, William, Mrs.
Subject(s): Birds; Gulls; Seagulls


Gulls when they fly move in a liquid arc;
Still head; and wings that bend above the breast,
Covering its glitter with a cloak of dark,
Gulls fly; so would at last toward balm and rest,
Remembering wings, the desperate leave their earth,
Bear from their earth what there was ruinous-crossed,
Peace from distress, and love from nothing-worth,
Fast at the heart, its jewels of dear cost.

Gulls go up hushed to that entrancing flight,
With never a feather of all the body stirred;
So in an air less rare than longing might
The dream of flying lift a marble bird.
Desire it is that flies; then wings are freight,
That only bear the feathered heart no weight.





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