For virtue, freedom, human rights, to fall,
Beseems the brave: it is a Saviour’s death.
Of heroes only the most pure of all,
Thus with their heart’s blood tinge the battle-heath.
And this proud death is seemliest in the man
Who for a kindred race, a country bleeds:
Three hundred Spartans from the shining van
Of those, whom fame in this high triumph leads.
Great is the death for a good prince incurr’d;
Who wields the sceptre with benignant hand: Well may for him the noble bare his sword,
Falling he earns the blessings of a land.
Death for a friend, parent, child, or her we love,
If not so great, is beauteous to behold: This the fine tumults of the hearts approve;
It is the walk to death unbought of gold.
But for mere majesty to meet a wound-
Who holds that great or glorious, he mistakes:
That is the fury of the pamper’d hound,
Which envy, anger, or the whip, awakes.
And for a tyrant’s sake to seek a jaunt
To hell-‘s a death which only hell enjoys;
Where such a hero falls-the gibbet plant,
A murderer’s trophy, and a plunderer’s prize.
(Gottfried August Burger)
More Poetry from Gottfried August Burger:
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Friendship Poems, Gold Poems, Anger Poems, Courage Poems, Liberty & Freedom Poems, Countries Poems, Vice & Virtue Poems, Heroism PoemsBased on Keywords: unbought, plunderer, hell-, spartans, jaunt, incurr, falls-the, seemliest