Claude McKay, "The Tropics in New York" (1922)
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.
(Edited and Proofread by Jenna Casciano)
[This poem appeared in Harlem Shadows. It was reprinted in Alain Locke's anthology, The New Negro: an Interpretation (1925)]