To the White Fiends

"To the White Fiends" is the third and final song in Robert Owens's song cycle 3 Songs, Op.41 (Song Cycle for Baritone and Piano).

Date: 1988Composer: Robert OwensText: Claude McKaySong Collection: 3 Songs, Op.41 (Song Cycle for Baritone and Piano)

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    To the White Fiends
    by Robert Owens

    Think you I am not fiend and savage too?
    Think you I could not arm me with a gun
    And shoot down ten of you for every one
    Of my black brothers murdered, burnt by you?
    Be not deceived, for every deed you do
    I could match — out-match: am I not Africa’s son,
    Black of that black land where black deeds are done?

    But the Almighty from the darkness drew
    My soul and said: Even thou shaft be a light
    Awhile to burn on the benighted earth,
    Thy dusky face I set among the white
    For thee to prove thyself of highest worth;
    Before the world is swallowed up in night,
    To show thy little lamp: go forth, go forth!

    Sheet Music

    3 songs for Baritone and Piano, Op. 41

    Composer(s): Robert Owens

    Song(s): The Lynching, If We Must Die, To the White Fiends

    Voice Type: Baritone

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