I Have a Rendezvous With Death

Listen to: 

I Have a Rendezvous With Death (1:22)

by Alan Seeger 

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

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.