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 Кузмин – Живется нам не плохо by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Зеленая птичка by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Запел петух, таинственный предвестник by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Заключение (Водительница Одигитрия) by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Зачем в тот вечер роковой by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Зачем копье Архистратига by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Я знаю вас не понаслышке by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Выздоравливающей by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Вы молчаливо-нежное дитя by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Вы белое бургундское вино by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Второй свидетель by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Все дни у Бога хороши by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Врезанные в песок заливы by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Врач мудрый нам открыл секрет природы by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Возвращение by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Возможно ль: скоро четверть века by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – Вот после ржавых львов и рева by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – В саду by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – В раскосый блеск зеркал забросив сети by Михаил Кузьмин
• Михаил Кузмин – В ранний утра час покидал Милет я by Михаил Кузьмин

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