Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SKY WITHOUT GULLS by HELEN FRAZEE-BOWER

First Line: ALWAYS ACROSS THE SEA-SCAPE OF MY MIND
Last Line: WHERE GULLS SHOULD BE -- AND SUDDENLY WERE NOT.
Subject(s): BIRDS; GULLS; SEAGULLS;

Always across the sea-scape of my mind,
Wheeling the white gulls came, like blown desire,
Sleeping I saw them, waking I could find
Back of all thought this one thought, lifted higher,
Poised like a bird, a star: the thought of these
Fanning the trackless heavens with slow wings,
Blowing in drifts of sudden light to tease
The shadowed edge of dark rememberings.
We came, and, strangely, no gull marked the sky;
And then one day to the accustomed sea
An incident to others, but to me
Shattered illusion and a twisted cry
Beating the dark with anguish for the spot
Where gulls should be -- and suddenly were not.



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