Gulls

Virna Sheard 1862 (Cobourg) – 1943 ( Toronto)



When the mist drives past and the wind blows high,
And the harbour lights are dim--
See where they circle, and dip and fly,
The grey free-lances of wind and sky,
To the water's distant rim!

Like spirits possessed of a fierce delight,
A courage that cannot fail,
They face the breakers--they face the night--
The mad storm-horses are silvery white,
They ride through the bitter gale!

They seem like the souls of the long, long lost,
Who breasted the ocean-main--
Vikings whose vessels were tempest-tossed,
Voyagers who sailed, whatever the cost,
And never came home again.

Or stranger and wilder fancy--it seems
As I hear their wind-torn cry,
No birds fly there through the sun's last gleams,
But the wraiths of hopes--the ghosts of dreams
That the old sea-gods saw die.

When the mist drives past and the wind blows high,
And the harbour lights are dim--
See where they circle, and dip and fly,
The grey free-lances of wind and sky,
To the far horizon's rim.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
50

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAAb cdccd exexx faffa ABAAb
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 941
Words 170
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Virna Sheard

Virginia Sheard (April 24, 1862 – February 22, 1943) was a Canadian poet and novelist. She also wrote under the name Stanton Sheard. more…

All Virna Sheard poems | Virna Sheard Books

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