• 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.