Alan Seeger

Alan Seeger (22 June 1888 – 4 July 1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Elizabeth Seeger, a children's author and educator, and Charles Seeger, an American pacifist and musicologist; he was also the uncle of folk musicians Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, and Mike Seeger. He is known for the poem "I Have a Rendezvous with Death", a favorite of President John F. Kennedy.

Quotes

Be mindful of the men they were, and raise your glasses to them in one silent toast.

• I have a rendezvous with Death
  At some disputed barricade,
  When Spring comes round with rustling shade
  And apple blossoms fill the air—
  I have a rendezvous with Death
  When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
  • I Have a Rendezvous with Death (1917)

• Under the little crosses where they rise
  The soldier rests. Now round him undismayed
  The cannon thunders, and at night he lies
  At peace beneath the eternal fusillade.

• I love to think that if my blood should be
  So privileged to sink where his has sunk,
  I shall not pass from Earth entirely
  But when the banquet rings, when healths are drunk,

• Be mindful of the men they were, and raise
  Your glasses to them in one silent toast.
  • Champagne, 1914-15

External links

• Works by Alan Seeger at Project Gutenberg