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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Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

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Poems in English 

• From the Mountain by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• For Mêng Hao-jan by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• Fine Apricot Lodge by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• Fields and Gardens by the River Qi by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• Farewell (II) by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• Chungnan by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• Birds Calling in the Ravine by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• An Evening in the Mountains by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• An Early Audience at the Palace of Light. (Harmonizing a poem for Secretary Jia Zhi.) by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A View of the Han River by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Study by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Song of Peach-Blossom River by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Song of an Autumn Night. by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Song of a Girl from Loyang by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Song at Weicheng. by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Message to Commissioner Li At Zizhou by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Message from my Lodge at Wangchuan to Pei Di by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Green Stream. by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Farmhouse on the Wei River by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰
• A Reply by Wang Wei by Wang Ван 王維 Wei Вэй 摩詰

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