A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
In the glad revels, in the happy fetes,
When cheeks are flushed, and glasses gilt and pearled
With the sweet wine of France that concentrates
The sunshine and the beauty of the world,
Drink sometimes, you whose footsteps yet may tread
The undisturbed, delightful paths of Earth,
To those whose blood, in pious duty shed,
Hallows the soil where that same wine had birth.
Here, by devoted comrades laid away,
Along our lines they slumber where they fell,
Beside the crater at the Ferme d’Alger
And up the bloody slopes of La Pompelle,
And round the city whose cathedral towers
The enemies of Beauty dared profane,
And in the mat of multicolored flowers
That clothe the sunny chalk-fields of Champagne.
Under the little crosses where they rise
The soldier rests. Now round him undismayed
The cannon thunders, and at night he lies
At peace beneath the eternal fusillade. . . .
That other generations might possess –;
From shame and menace free in years to come –;
A richer heritage of happiness,
He marched to that heroic martyrdom.
Esteeming less the forfeit that he paid
Than undishonored that his flag might float
Over the towers of liberty, he made
His breast the bulwark and his blood the moat.
Obscurely sacrificed, his nameless tomb,
Bare of the sculptor’s art, the poet’s lines,
Summer shall flush with poppy-fields in bloom,
And Autumn yellow with maturing vines.
There the grape-pickers at their harvesting
Shall lightly tread and load their wicker trays,
Blessing his memory as they toil and sing
In the slant sunshine of October days. . . .
I love to think that if my blood should be
So privileged to sink where his has sunk,
I shall not pass from Earth entirely,
But when the banquet rings, when healths are drunk,
And faces that the joys of living fill
Glow radiant with laughter and good cheer,
In beaming cups some spark of me shall still
Brim toward the lips that once I held so dear.
So shall one coveting no higher plane
Than nature clothes in color and flesh and tone,
Even from the grave put upward to attain
The dreams youth cherished and missed and might have known;
And that strong need that strove unsatisfied
Toward earthly beauty in all forms it wore,
Not death itself shall utterly divide
From the belovèd shapes it thirsted for.
Alas, how many an adept for whose arms
Life held delicious offerings perished here,
How many in the prime of all that charms,
Crowned with all gifts that conquer and endear!
Honor them not so much with tears and flowers,
But you with whom the sweet fulfilment lies,
Where in the anguish of atrocious hours
Turned their last thoughts and closed their dying eyes,
Rather when music on bright gatherings lays
Its tender spell, and joy is uppermost,
Be mindful of the men they were, and raise
Your glasses to them in one silent toast.
Drink to them –; amorous of dear Earth as well,
They asked no tribute lovelier than this –;
And in the wine that ripened where they fell,
Oh, frame your lips as though it were a kiss.
A few random poems:
- What Of The Night
- Life a battlefield by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Robert Burns: Address Of Beelzebub: To the Right Honourable the Earl of Breadalbane, President of the Right Honourable and Honourable the Highland Society, which met on the 23rd of May last at the Shakespeare, Covent Garden, to concert ways and means to frustrate the designs of five hundred Highlanders, who, as the Society were informed by Mr. M’Kenzie of Applecross, were so audacious as to attempt an escape from their lawful lords and masters whose property they were, by emigrating from the lands of Mr. Macdonald of Glengary to the wilds of Canada, in search of that fantastic thing-Liberty.
- The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes
- V: Some Verses: To The Author Parthenius by William Alexander
- Post coitum omne animal triste est sive gallus et mulier by T. Wignesan.
- Николай Карамзин – К Алине на смерть ее супруга
- Владимир Маяковский – Нам бы только вот это воскресити… (РОСТА)
- Intimidation by Satish Verma
- Иннокентий Анненский – Леконт де Лиль. Негибнущий аромат
- An Address to Shakespeare by William Topaz McGonagall
- On Twitter
- Sonnet 84: Who is it that says most, which can say more by William Shakespeare
- At Midnight by Sara Teasdale
- Ольга Седакова – Неужели, Мария, только рамы скрипят
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- The Day Of Wrath / Dies Iræ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Confederate Flags poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Bride poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- T.A.H. poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Presentiment poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Polyphemus poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Politics poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- On The Wedding Of The Aeronaut poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Montefiore poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Matter For Gratitude poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Matter For Gratitude poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Invocation poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- In Defense poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Geotheos poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Elixer Vitæ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Elixer Vitæ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Egotist poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- In Defense poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Creation poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Convalescent poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Alan Seeger (1888-1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist and the uncle of folk musician, Pete Seeger.