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 

• In Praise Of England poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Impromptu: To Frances Garnet Wolseley poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• If I To You But Sorry Bring poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• I Chide Not At The Seasons poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Hymn To Death poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Gleaners Of Fame poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Farewell To Spring poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Golden Age poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• “The flower, full blown, now bends the stalk, now breaks” poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Fallen Elm poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Evening Light poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Dregs Of Love poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Door Of Humility poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Death Of Huss poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Dance At Darmstadt poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Challenge Answered poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• The Aquittal Of Phryne poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• “Take not the Gods to task, for they are wise” poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Sweet Love Is Dead poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin

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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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