| James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922. |
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| Time to Die |
| | | Ray G. Dandridge |
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| BLACK brother, think you life so sweet | |
| That you would live at any price? | |
| Does mere existence balance with | |
| The weight of your great sacrifice? | |
| Or can it be you fear the grave | 5 |
| Enough to live and die a slave? | |
| O Brother! be it better said, | |
| When you are gone and tears are shed, | |
| That your death was the stepping stone | |
| Your children’s children cross’d upon. | 10 |
| Men have died that men might live: | |
| Look every foeman in the eye! | |
| If necessary, your life give | |
| For something, ere in vain you die. | |
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