De Grote Oorlog

Vandaag - Poppy Day - eindigde, precies negentig jaar geleden, de Grote Oorlog. Een van de bijna negenenhalf (!) miljoenen gesneuvelde soldaten was de dichter Alan Seeger. Hij schreef het huiveringwekkend mooie gedicht I have a rendez-vous with death vlak voor hij op 4 juli 1916 zelf de dood vond in Belloy-en-Santerre. Het was - o ironie van het lot - het lievelingsgedicht van John F. Kennedy.

Rendezvous

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.