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 

• Федор Сологуб – Лепестками завялыми by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Ландыши, ландыши, бедные цветы by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Ландыш пленительный by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Купол церкви, крест и небо by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Кукушка кукует by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Круг начертан, и Сивилла by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Краем прибережной кручи by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Короткая радость сгорела by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Колёса по рельсам гудели by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Кольцо и венок by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Когда я в бурном море плавал by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Ах, лягушки по дорожке by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Астероид by Фёдор Сологуб
• Федор Сологуб – Ариадна by Фёдор Сологуб
• Sergei Esenin – Sergueï Essénine – Stars by Fledermaus
• Эмиль Верхарн – Звонарь by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Золото by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Зимняя пора by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Женщина в черном by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Здравствуй, подруга by Émile Verhaeren

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