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 

• Robert Burns: There Was A Bonie Lass: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Inscription At Friars’ Carse Hermitage: To the Memory of Robert Riddell. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Bonie Peg-a-Ramsay: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Epigram On Mr. James Gracie: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Epitaph For Mr. Gabriel Richardson: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Apology For Declining An Invitation To Dine: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Jerusalem Tavern, Dumfries.: Inscription On A Goblet by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Compliments Of John Syme Of Ryedale: Lines sent with a Present of a Dozen of Porter. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Solemn League And Covenant: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Craigieburn Wood: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: A Man’s A Man For A’ That: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: For The Sake O’ Somebody: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Tear-Drop: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: My Nanie’s Awa: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Canst Thou Leave Me Thus, My Katie: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Farewell Thou Stream: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Contented Wi’ Little And Cantie Wi’ Mair: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Philly And Willy: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Lassie Wi’ The Lint-White Locks: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Charming Month Of May: by Robert Burns

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