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 

• Atalanta’s Race by William Morris by William Morris
• A Good Knight In Prison by William Morris by William Morris
• A Death Song by William Morris by William Morris
• We embraced and talked about rains by Vinko Kalinic by Poetry In English
• Twins by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• To a friend by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• Those seven days by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa by Poetry In English
• The face wanted by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• The Boy by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• Summer We Called Home by Vinita Agrawal by Poetry In English
• Story of a Drunk by Violet Uram by Poetry In English
• Sometimes by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• See, how I love you by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• Sea God and the wind rose by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• Respect her by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa by Poetry In English
• Requiem for Two by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• Raw Silk by Vinita Agrawal by Poetry In English
• Raise the head, child by Vinko Kalinić by Poetry In English
• Pure call of the wilderness by Vinko Kalinic by Poetry In English
• Pigeon Haiku by Violet Uram by Poetry In English

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