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.
(Alan Seeger)
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Based on Topics: War & Peace Poems, Happiness Poems, Pleasure Poems, Envy & Jealousy Poems, Disagreement & Quarelling Poems, Deceptions PoemsBased on Keywords: renouncing, ferment, baffling, heartaches, gadfly