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 

• Константин Бальмонт – Море – вечное стремленье, горы – царственный покой by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Молитва последняя by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Молитва by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Если грустно тебе by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Эльзи by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Электрон by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Далеким близким by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Да, я люблю одну тебя by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Цветок (Я цветок, и счастье аромата) by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Цветок by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Чудовище с клеймом by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Что достойно, что бесчестно by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Четыре источника by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Чет и нечет by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Черный и белый by Константин Бальмонт
• Константин Бальмонт – Черные вороны by Константин Бальмонт
• Кондратий Рылеев – Песня (Кто сколько ни хлопочет) by Кондратий Рылеев
• Кондратий Рылеев – Переводчику «Андромахи» by Кондратий Рылеев
• Кондратий Рылеев – Палей by Кондратий Рылеев
• Кондратий Рылеев – Оставь меня, Я здесь молю by Кондратий Рылеев

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Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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