I have a Rendezvous with Death
I have a Rendezvous with Death
Original Text
Alan Seeger, Poems, introduction by William Archer (London: Constable, 1919), p. 144. PS 3537 E26 1917 ROBA.
1I have a rendezvous with Death
2At some disputed barricade,
3When Spring comes back with rustling shade
4And apple-blossoms fill the air --
5I have a rendezvous with Death
6When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
7It may be he shall take my hand
8And lead me into his dark land
9And close my eyes and quench my breath --
10It may be I shall pass him still.
11I have a rendezvous with Death
12On some scarred slope of battered hill,
13When Spring comes round again this year
14And the first meadow-flowers appear.
15God knows 'twere better to be deep
16Pillowed in silk and scented down,
17Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,
18Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
19Where hushed awakenings are dear ...
20But I've a rendezvous with Death
21At midnight in some flaming town,
22When Spring trips north again this year,
23And I to my pledged word am true,
24I shall not fail that rendezvous.
Publication Start Year
1916
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.