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 

• May You Be Like An Evergreen by Ronald G. Auguste by Poetry In English
• Marks Of Disrespect by Graham Rowlands by Poetry In English
• Magic Markers by Rose Mary Boehm by Poetry In English
• Mad Pirate Marmaduke by Ross D Tyler by Poetry In English
• Lunch by Ross D Tyler by Poetry In English
• Life Of a Broke Person by Russell James by Poetry In English
• Kiss by Ruth Padel by Poetry In English
• Jewels Should Sparkle Daily by Ronald G. Auguste by Poetry In English
• I See Your Beauty by Ronald G. Auguste by Poetry In English
• Herodotus in Egypt Remeber Delos by Ruth Padel by Poetry In English
• Flamenco Flamingo by Ross D Tyler by Poetry In English
• Falling Action by Ruth Madievsky by Poetry In English
• Daryl, My Son by Ronald G. Auguste by Poetry In English
• Conversation With My Heart by Russ Pergram by Poetry In English
• Conversation 23: On Cause by Rosmarie Waldrop by Poetry In English
• Concrete Backyard by Ryssel Guzman by Poetry In English
• Camelot & The Greek Widow by Graham Rowlands by Poetry In English
• Breath by Ryssel Guzman by Poetry In English
• Bobsled by Ruth Madievsky by Poetry In English
• Blue Glass by Ross D Tyler by Poetry In English

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Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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