Download MP3. The words of the poem “If I Die Young” were written by Sasha Krause in 2011, when she was 19 years old. Just over 8 years later, she was kidnapped and killed.
After her death in early 2020, her father shared the poem with a few friends, and it was set to music by two other young people. Sheet music for the arrangement by Lavon Wideman can be found here, and sheet music for the arrangement by Matthew Brubacher can be found here.
1. If I die young, count not my life as blighted,
Nor ponder sadly o’er the might-have-been;
You know not how my youthful soul, delighted,
Soared up-ward as though on the wings of wind.
2. If I die young, think not the hours wasted
I spent preparing for some future day.
My God is not unrighteous to forget it;
He will completely recompense someday.
3. If I die young, pray, mourn me not, my friends!
You did not see the tears that washed my soul,
You did not see the tempest fierce within me,
Nor how I burned with longing for the goal.
4. If I die young, oh, grant this voice a hearing!
Death is but gain to those who trust my God;
And know that He is watching for my coming:
My soul you did not bury in the sod.
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