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,

Marking 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 honour 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 deathblow!

What though before grave?

Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to well, dying, but fighting back!

                                                 Claude McKay

Caribbean poetry is very rich in verses relevant to the observance of the United Nations declaration of 2011 as The International Year of People of African Descent.  It is rewarding to make critical reference to many of them because of their subjects, the kinds of …..