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 Гербель – В дорогу by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Ура, объявлена война by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Салютовка by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Простор by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Песнь лейб-гвардии уланского полка by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – На смерть воробья by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Меня преследует какой-то демон злой by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Изюмцам by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Бокал by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Наум Коржавин – Поэзия не страсть, а власть by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Подмосковная платформа в апреле by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Песня лейб-казачьей сотни by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Перевал by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Памяти Герцена или Баллада об историческом недосыпе by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – От судьбы никуда не уйти by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – От дурачеств, от ума ли by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Осень в Караганде by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Он собирался многое свершить by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – О Господи! Как я хочу умереть by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Никакой истерики by Поэзия На Русском

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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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