Friday, October 18, 2013

If We Must Die

Claude McKay's collectivist leanings notwithstanding (which he ended up disappointed with, converting to Catholicism toward the end of his life), there is still truth inspiring to freedom fighters in this work:

If We Must Die

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
Of course, all things considered, it may not be as romantic and poetic, but there is a preferred alternative...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

AMEN!

gfa