By Claude McKay

Claude McKay was one of the twentieth century’s finest poets and Harlem Shadows (1922) collects some of his most moving, lyrical verses which capture his nostalgia for Jamaica, as well as his empathy for the unjust plight of Black people in the United States and around the world. These are passionate poems, that are full of calls for human decency, dignity and justice in a needlessly cruel world. In ‘If We Must Die,’ McKay asserts:

“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.”

This collection includes poems such as:
-THE EASTER FLOWER
-FLAME-HEART
-THE SPANISH NEEDLE
-ENSLAVED
-I SHALL RETURN
-MORNING JOY
-AFRICA
-ON A PRIMITIVE CANOE
-THE HARLEM DANCER
-THE CASTAWAYS
-THE LYNCHING
-IF WE MUST DIE