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by Claude Mckay (1890 - 1948)

If we must die
 (Sung text for setting by G. Bachlund)
 Matches original text
Language: English 
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 -- oh, 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!
 
Oh, Kinsmen! We must meet the common foe;
Though far outnumbered, let us still be 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!

Composition:

    Set to music by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "If we must die", 2010 [ medium voice and piano ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Claude Mckay (1890 - 1948), "If we must die", appears in Harlem Shadows, The Poems of Claude McKay, first published 1922

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 115

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