I HAVE A RENDEZ-VOUS WITH DEATH
by: Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
- HAVE a
rendezvous with Death
- At some disputed barricade,
- When Spring comes back with rustling shade
- And apple blossoms fill the air--
- I have a rendezvous with Death
- When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
-
- It may be he shall take my hand,
- And lead me into his dark land,
- And close my eyes and quench my breath--
- It may be I shall pass him still.
- I have a rendezvous with Death
- On some scarred slope of battered hill,
- When Spring comes round again this year
- And the first meadow flowers appear.
-
- God knows 'twere better to be deep
- Pillowed in silk and scented down,
- Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,
- Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
- Where hushed awakenings are dear . . .
- But I've a rendezvous with Death
- At midnight in some flaming town,
- When Spring trips north again this year;
- And I to my pledged word am true,
- I shall not fail that rendezvous.
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