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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• At The Abbey Theatre by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• At Galway Races by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• At Algeciras; A Meditaton Upon Death by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• Are You Content? by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• Another Song Of A Fool by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• An Irish Airman Forsees His Death by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• An Image From A Past Life by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• An Appointment by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• An Acre Of Grass by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• All Things Can Tempt Me by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• Against Unworthy Praise by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• After Long Silence by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• Adam’s Curse by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• A Woman Homer Sung by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• A Thought From Propertius by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• A Stick Of Incense by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• A Statesman’s Holiday by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• A Song From ‘The Player Queen’ by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• A Song by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats
• A Prayer On Going Into My House by William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats

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