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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• Николай Глазков – Дремота обрела права by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Дождь by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Должны мы все свой пай нести by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Девятое мая by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Давно хотел сложить стихи by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Чтоб улыбалось счастье by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Что ни год, идёт вперёд by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Чингисхан, Батый, Аттила by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Четыре времени года by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Бывают в нашей жизни величины by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Быть хочешь постоянно пьяным by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Была зима by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Богатырское распутье by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Без поражений нет побед by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Баллада о трактористе и ритуальном камне by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Бабье лето by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – А минувшее все непонятнее ребусов by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – 9-е мая by Николай Глазков
• Николай Гербель – Зной by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Введение к поэме by Николай Гербель (Härbel)

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