The immigration opened another chapter in her work, with the poet displaying an interest in current events and her private dilemmas, mostly hidden behind metaphorical constructions. Metaphysical experiences induced by nature and a sense of unity with the universe became themes that the poet explored in her writing.
Obertyńska persistently seeks some form of comfort, longing for the rhythm that the war destroyed. She finds some peace in reminiscing about her family home and reflecting upon religious matters. Occasionally, writing fiction, such as the Gothic novel Skarb Eulenburga, offers a chance to escape reality. However, the writer came back to the past in her work, perhaps feeling a sense of duty to commit the Polish nation's history and her own fate to paper – she wrote the continuation of her mother's memoir, Quodlibet. In 1974, the two works were published in one volume as Wspomnienia.
Obertyńska collaborated with Dziennik Polski, Polska Walcząca, Orzeł Biały and Jesuit papers. In 1967, she won the award of the London-based Polish-language periodical Przegląd Powszechny. In 1972, the poetry book Miód i Piołun brought her the Lanckoroński Foundation award and the prize granted by the Polish ex-Combatants Association in Great Britain. Obertyńska always remembered her beloved homeland, but never returned to the country.
To employ Obertyńska's method and see events through the prism of seasons, her last works belong to late autumn. The poetry is melancholic, even depressive; pain and despair slowly fade away. Obertyńska died on 21st May 1980 in London.
Originally written in Polish by Agnieszka Warnke, translated by Natalia Sajewicz, Sep 2021