Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE GOD OF THE GULLS, by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE GOD OF THE GULLS, by                    
First Line: O the god of the gulls goes straight and swift
Last Line: Over the secret sea.
Subject(s): Birds; God; Gulls; Nature - Religious Aspects; Travel; Seagulls; Journeys; Trips


O THE God of the gulls goes straight and swift,
Whatever winds may be:
Straight he goes, and swift he goes,
Over the secret sea.

For the God of the gulls has a restless heart
That will not let him be:
By day and by night it urges him
With the urge of eternity.

Yet the tireless God of the tireless gulls
Forgetteth not his own:
Out of his bosom booms a cry,—
Wave-echoed, tempest-blown;

And the birds beat down to the sheltering shrouds,
Or gather upon the hull;
Safely they sail on the breast of the giant,—
The strong or the young sea-gull.

But the storm dies down, and the clouds dissolve,
And out on the sunlit sea
Wheel and circle the white-feathered folk,
Playing right merrily.

Then their God laughs kindly, and tosses food
To the eager-whirling things;—
A rapturous dive of the sea-children
With the sun on their glistening wings!

O the God of the gulls goes straight and swift,
Whatever winds may be:
Straight he goes, and swift he goes,
Over the secret sea.





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