[To say ‘We were right’ is not boastful] by Edwin Rolfe (Solomon Fishman)

To say We were right is not boastful,
or We saw, when all others were blind
or We acted, while others ignored or uselessly wept.

We have the right to say this
because in purest truth we can also record
We died, while others in cowardice lived on.

Just as the man is false who never says I
nor asserts his own deeds in pride, or disclaims his wrongs,
so too would we be less than truly men

if we did not now, to all the embattled world, proudly proclaim
We saw. We acted. Fought. Died. While others in cowardice slept.

New York, November 1939

From: Rolfe, Edwin, ‘[To say We were right is not boastful] in New Masses, Vol. 50, No. 3, 18 January 1944, p. 12.
(https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1944/v50n03-jan-18-1944-NM.pdf)

Date: 1939

By: Edwin Rolfe (Solomon Fishman) (1909-1954)