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 

• Robert Burns: Anna, Thy Charms: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: To Alex. Cunningham, ESQ., Writer: Ellisland, Nithsdale, July 27th, 1788. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Lines Written In Friars’-Carse Hermitage: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: I Hae a Wife O’ My Ain: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Of A’ The Airts The Wind Can Blaw: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Epistle To Hugh Parker: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Chevalier’s Lament: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Verses To Clarinda: Sent with a Pair of Wine-Glasses. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Bonie Lad That’s Far Awa: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Winter It Is Past: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: To Daunton Me: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Talk Of Him That’s Far Awa: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Lad They Ca’Jumpin John: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Duncan Davison : by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Hey, The Dusty Miller: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: How Long And Dreary Is The Night : by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Up In The Morning Early: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Up In The Morning Early: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Verses To Clarinda: Sent with a Pair of Wine-Glasses. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Bonie Lad That’s Far Awa: by Robert Burns

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