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 

• Николай Языков – Вот яблоки так яблоки, на славу by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Воспоминание by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Водопад by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Виленскому (Не робко пей, товарищ мой) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Весна by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Вечер (Прохладен воздух был) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Валдайский узник by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – В. М. Княжевичу (Простите мне простое «ты») by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – В альбом Ш. К. Фон-дер-Борг (Доверчивый, простосердечной) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – В. А. Елагину (Светло блестит на глади неба ясной) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Услад by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Тригорское by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Странный случай by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Стансы (В час, как деву молодую) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Сомнение by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Сказка о пастухе и диком вепре by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Сержант Сурмин by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – С. П. Шевыреву (Тебе хвала, и честь, и слава) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Романс (Угрюм стоит дремучий лес) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Романс (Красой небесною прекрасна) by Николай Языков

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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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