Defeat / Constance Woodrow

Defeat by Constance Woodrow

from The Captive Gypsy, 1928

Defeat

A pair of Brown-headed Gulls flying over the sea off the coast of Mumbai, India, 2009 (detail). Photo by Dr. S. Natarajan. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Between the grey monotony of sky
And darker grey monotony of sea
A solitary seagull passes by,
Beating the air, and screaming plaintively.

And even so – between grey yesterdays,
Before your coming waked my dreaming heart,
And darker grey to-morrows, when our ways
Must lie forever half a world apart –

I take my way on wings that feebly beat
Against the adverse winds of circumstance,
My heart, rebellious at this last defeat,
Screaming defiance at the gods of chance.

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less. See Copyright.