Sunday War Poet....

Alan Seeger

1888- 1916

Rendezvous

I have a rendezvous with Death

At some disputed barricade,

I 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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Alan Seeger was an American Poet who fought and died in WW1 during the Battle of the Somme serving in the French Foreign Legion He is most well known for having authored the poem, I Have a Rendezvous with Death, a favourite of President John F Kennedy. A statue modelled after Seeger is found on the monument honouring fallen Americans who volunteered for France during the war, located in Paris.

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