Re-Affirmation

Re-Affirmation (1920)
by Claude McKay

First published in Workers' Dreadnought, 3 July 1920 under pseudonym Hugh Hope

2651678Re-Affirmation1920Claude McKay

Re-Affirmation

I am downhearted not, although it seems
   The new birth is abortive in the West,
And men are turning from long-cherished dreams
   Of world-wide freedom to ignoble rest.

I am discouraged not, although the foe—
   Shameless, like boars disporting in the mud
Of their foul fen where nothing fair can grow—
   Wallow obscenely in the workers' blood.

I am despairing not, though in our ranks,
   Hard-pressed and weak, are fools and fops and knaves,
Who with their selfish aims and wanton pranks
   Would sell the Cause to be contented slaves.

What though I see the trusted and the tried
   For many a year turn traitor at the last,
go over to the seeming stronger side!—
   My heart feels sick, but I am not downcast.

The babe bursts from the mother's womb in pain
   The night is darkest just before the dawn,
The heavens turn black to bless the earth with rain,
   I am disheartened not, I will keep on.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1948, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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