| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Sea-gulls | | By Jeannette Marks |
| | On Leaving Eggemoggin
SEA-GULLS I saw lifting the dawn with rosy feet, | |
| Bearing the sunlight on their wings, | |
| Dripping the dusk from burnished plumes; | |
| And I thought | |
| It would be joy to be a sea-gull | 5 |
| At dusk, at dawn of day, | |
| And through long sunlit hours. | |
| |
| Sea-gulls I saw carrying the night upon their backs, | |
| Wide tail spread crescent for the moon and stars— | |
| The moon a glowing jelly fish, | 10 |
| The stars foam-flecks of light; | |
| And I thought | |
| It would be joy to be a sea-gull! | |
| |
| How I would dart with them, | |
| Strike storm with coral spur, | 15 |
| Rip whirling spray of angry tides, | |
| Snatch mangled, light-shot offal of the sea— | |
| Torn, tossed and moving terribly; | |
| And stare for stare answer those myriad eyes | |
| That float and sway, stab, sting and die away! | 20 |
| |
| How I would peer from wide, cold eyes of fire— | |
| At dusk, at dawn, | |
| And through the long daylight— | |
| Into those coiling depths of sea; | |
| Then split the sun, the moon, the stars, | 25 |
| With laughter, laughter, laughter | |
| For the sea’s mad power! | | | | |
|
|
