Defeat / Constance Woodrow

Defeat

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.

~~
Constance Woodrow (1899-1937)
from The Captive Gypsy, 1928

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the European Union]

Constance Woodrow biography