"Gulls" || Poem by Leonora Speyer (1921)

Fearless riders of the gale,
In your bleak eyes is the memory
Of sinking ships:
Desire, unsatisfied,
Droops from your wings.

You lie at dusk
In the sea’s ebbing cradles,
Unresponsive to its mood;
Or hover and swoop,
Snatching your food and rising again,
Greedy,
Unthinking.

You veer and steer your callous course,
Unloved of other birds;
And in your soulless cry
Is the mocking echo
Of woman’s weeping in the night.
 
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Leonora Speyer, (1872 - 1956) was an American poet and professional violinist born in Washington, D.C. She studied music in Brussels, Paris, and Leipzig. When she moved back to N.Y. in 1915, she started writing poetry. Speyer was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1927 for her poetry collection "Fiddler’s Farewell". She went to write other poetry collections.