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 

• Михаил Лермонтов – Чаша жизни by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Бухариной by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Булевар by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Боюсь не смерти я by Михаил Лермонтов
• Лермонтов – Бородино: Стихотворение “Скажи-ка, дядя, ведь не даром”, читать текст стиха полностью онлайн на Poetry Monster by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Бой с барсом (Отрывок Мцыри) by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Блистая, пробегают облака by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Благодарность by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Без вас хочу сказать вам много by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Беглец by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Бартеневой by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Баллада (Куда так проворно, жидовка младая) by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Баллада (из Байрона) by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Баллада (В избушке позднею порою) by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Ах! Ныне я не тот совсем by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Арфа by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – Ангел by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Лермонтов – А. А. Олениной (Ах! Анна Алексевна) by Михаил Лермонтов
• Михаил Кузмин – Звезда Афродиты by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Зимнее солнце by Михаил Кузьмин

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