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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claude McKay
Claude McKay
Claude McKay was born in Jamaica, West Indies, in 1889. He was educated by his older brother, who possessed a library of English novels, poetry, and scientific texts. At the age of...
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The Tropics of New York  
by Claude McKay

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,

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

My eyes grow 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.



Used by permission of The Archives of Claude McKay, Carl Cowl, Administrator.
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