Liebestod

A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)

I who, conceived beneath another star,

Had been a prince and played with life, instead

Have been its slave, an outcast exiled far

From the fair things my faith has merited.

My ways have been the ways that wanderers tread

And those that make romance of poverty —

Soldier, I shared the soldier’s board and bed,

And Joy has been a thing more oft to me

Whispered by summer wind and summer sea

Than known incarnate in the hours it lies

All warm against our hearts and laughs into our eyes.

I know not if in risking my best days

I shall leave utterly behind me here

This dream that lightened me through lonesome ways

And that no disappointment made less dear;

Sometimes I think that, where the hilltops rear

Their white entrenchments back of tangled wire,

Behind the mist Death only can make clear,

There, like Brunhilde ringed with flaming fire,

Lies what shall ease my heart’s immense desire:

There, where beyond the horror and the pain

Only the brave shall pass, only the strong attain.

Truth or delusion, be it as it may,

Yet think it true, dear friends, for, thinking so,

That thought shall nerve our sinews on the day

When to the last assault our bugles blow:

Reckless of pain and peril we shall go,

Heads high and hearts aflame and bayonets bare,

And we shall brave eternity as though

Eyes looked on us in which we would seem fair —

One waited in whose presence we would wear,

Even as a lover who would be well-seen,

Our manhood faultless and our honor clean.

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Poems in English 

• The Epic Menageries by MB Moshe by Poetry In English
• The Cup of Life by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• The Colored Balloon by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• The Cinnamon Peeler by Michael Ondaatje by Michael Ondaatje
• State Fair Time by Michael S Wilson by Poetry In English
• Speaking To You (From Rock Bottom) by Michael Ondaatje by Michael Ondaatje
• Soulmating by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Since That Summer by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Searching by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Scotland by MB Moshe by Poetry In English
• Ruined World by Michael Yuan by Poetry In English
• Ready for Retirement by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Promise Ya by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• Picking Cherries by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Outset by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Obdurant men, the worst of the abstinant by Miles by Poetry In English
• Notes For The Legend Of Salad Woman by Michael Ondaatje by Michael Ondaatje
• Not even a child by Miles by Poetry In English
• Nailing by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• My Ink by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English

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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.

 

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