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 

• Гавриил Державин – Философы, пьяный и трезвый by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Амур и Психея by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Жуковскому и Родзянке, приславшим с большими похвалами автору перевод его оды «Бог» на французском языке by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Желание в горняя by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Жан Расин. Рассказ Терамена by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Задумчивость by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Храповицкому (Храповицкий! дружбы знаки) by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Похвала за правосудие by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Похвала комару by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Послание Мурзы Багрима к царевне Доброславе by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Поминки by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Покаяние by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Подражание псалму (Терпел я, уповал на Бога) by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Песенка by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Пчелка by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Охотник by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Осень by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Оковы by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – О удовольствии by Гавриил Державин
• Гавриил Державин – Надежда на бога by Гавриил Державин

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