Claude McKay (Клод Маккей)

The Tropics in New York


Bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root,
Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,
And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,
Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,

Set in the window, bringing memories
Of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,
And dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies
In benediction over nun-like hills.

My eyes grew dim, and I could no more gaze;
A wave of longing through my body swept,
And, hungry for the old, familiar ways,
I turned aside and bowed my head and wept.

Claude McKay’s other poems:

  1. The Wild Goat
  2. To a Poet
  3. The White House
  4. Thirst
  5. To One Coming North

884




To the dedicated English version of this website