President Kennedy’s favorite poem

I have a rendez-vous with death

By Alan Seeger (1888-1916)

I have a rendez-vous with Death

At some disputed barricade,

When Spring comes back with rustling shade

And apple-blossoms fill the air –

I have a rendez-vous 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 rendez-vous 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 rendez-vous 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 rendez-vous.

.

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