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 Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Moon is a Painter by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Merciful Hand by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Master of the Dance by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Lion by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Light o’ the Moon by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Leaden-Eyed by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The King of Yellow Butterflies by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Jingo and the Minstrel by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Illinois Village by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Hope of the Resurrection by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Hearth Eternal by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Haughty Snail-King by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Ghosts of the Buffaloes by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Gamblers by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Flower of Mending by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Flower-Fed Buffaloes by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Fairy Bridal-Hymn by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Empty Boats by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay

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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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