I Have A Rendezvous With Death — Aug 22, 2026

Alan Seeger wrote this poem while serving as a soldier in the First World War, and that fact hangs over every line. It reads like a quiet vow rather than a lament — a young man speaking calmly about the appointment he expects to keep with death on some battlefield. The refrain "rendezvous with Death" gives the poem its haunting music, returning again and again like a held breath, while the gentle rhymes and steady rhythm make the subject feel almost tender instead of frightening. The images of spring — apple blossoms, meadow flowers, blue skies — sit in aching contrast to the "scarred slope" and "flaming town" nearby, life and destruction sharing the same season. What still lands today is that mix of dread and devotion: the poem isn't about wanting to die, but about facing an unwanted fate with steadiness and honor, a feeling that outlasts any one war.