Tropical Town

For Miss Eugenia L. V. Geisenheimer

Blue, pink, and yellow houses, and, afar,
The cemetery, where the green trees are.

Sometimes you see a hungry dog pass by,
And there are always buzzards in the sky.
Sometimes you hear the big cathedral bell,
A blindman rings it; and sometimes you hear
A rumbling ox-cart that brings wood to sell.
Else nothing ever breaks the ancient spell
That holds the town asleep, save, once a year,
The Easter festival . . .
                                                I come from there,
And when I tire of hoping, and despair
Is heavy over me, my thoughts go far,
Beyond that length of lazy street, to where 
The lonely green trees and the white graves are.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on September 10, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.