Poem by Alan Seeger

Sonnet 10. I have sought Happiness, but it has been

I have sought Happiness, but it has been
A lovely rainbow, baffling all pursuit,
And tasted Pleasure, but it was a fruit
More fair of outward hue than sweet within.
Renouncing both, a flake in the ferment
Of battling hosts that conquer or recoil,
There only, chastened by fatigue and toil,
I knew what came the nearest to content.
For there at least my troubled flesh was free
From the gadfly Desire that plagued it so;
Discord and Strife were what I used to know,
Heartaches, deception, murderous jealousy;
By War transported far from all of these,
Amid the clash of arms I was at peace.

1. Thirty Sonnets. 19. Vivien
2. Thirty Sonnets. 28. On the Cliffs, Newport
3. Broceliande
4. Thirty Sonnets. 7. Sonnet 7. To me, a pilgrim on that journey bound
5. Thirty Sonnets. 21. Virginibus Puerisque

Print

1249 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version