Claude McKay

Oh something just now must be happening there!
That suddenly and quiveringly here,
Amid the city's noises,
I must think Of mangoes leaning o'er the river's brink

My spirit wails for water, water now!
My tongue is aching dry, my throat is hot
For water, fresh rain shaken from a bough,
Or dawn dews heavy in some leafy spot.…

Your lips are like a southern lily red, Wet with the soft rain-kisses of the night,
In which the brown bee buries deep its head, When still the dawn's a silver sea of light.
Your lips betray the secret of your soul, The dark delicious…

There is a lovely noise about your name,
Above the shoutings of the city clear,
More than a moment’s merriment, whose claim
Will greater grow with every mellowed year.The people will not bear you down the street,…

For one brief golden moment rare like wine,
The gracious city swept across the line;
Oblivious of the color of my skin,
Forgetting that I was an alien guest,

No servile little fear shall daunt my will
This morning. I have courage steeled to say
I will be lazy, conqueringly still,
I will not lose the hours in toil this day.The roaring world without, careless of souls,…

When I have passed away and am forgotten, And no one living can recall my face,
When under alien sod my bones lie rotten With not a tree or stone to mark the place;
Perchance a pensive youth, with passion burning, For olden verse that…

Alfonso is a handsome bronze-hued lad
Of subtly-changing and surprising parts;
His moods are storms that frighten and make glad,
His eyes were made to capture women’s hearts.Down in the glory-hole Alfonso sings…

Your scent is in the room.
Swiftly it overwhelms and conquers me!
Jasmines, night jasmines, perfect of perfume,
Heavy with dew before the dawn of day!…

I Throughout the afternoon I watched them there,
Snow-fairies falling, falling from the sky,
Whirling fantastic in the misty air,
Contending fierce for space supremacy.

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

At first you'll joy to see the playful snow, Like white moths trembling on the tropic air,
Or waters of the hills that softly flow Gracefully falling down a shining stair.
And when the fields and streets are covered white And the…

Swift swallows sailing from the Spanish main, O rain-birds racing merrily away From hill-tops parched with heat and sultry plain Of wilting plants and fainting flowers, say— When at the noon-hour from the chapel school The children dash and…

So much have I forgotten in ten years,
So much in ten brief years!
I have
What time the purple apples come to juice

Bow down my soul in worship very
And in the holy silences be lost.
Bow down before the marble man of woe,
Bow down before the singing angel host.

Nay, why reproach each other, be unkind,
For there’s no plane on which we two may meet?
Let’s both forgive, forget, for both were blind,
And life is of a day, and time is fleet.And I am fire, swift to flame and burn,…

The perfume of your body dulls my sense. I want nor wine nor weed; your breath alone Suffices.
In this moment rare and tense I worship at your breast.
The flower is blown,
The saffron petals tempt my amorous mouth, The yellow heart…

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…

Here, passing lonely down this quiet lane,
Before a mud-splashed window long I pause
To gaze and gaze, while through my active brain
Still thoughts are stirred to wakefulness; because…

I would be wandering in distant fields Where man, and bird, and beast, lives leisurely,
And the old earth is kind, and ever yields Her goodly gifts to all her children free;
Where life is fairer, lighter, less demanding,
And boys…

Your door is shut against my tightened face,
And I am sharp as steel with discontent;
But I possess the courage and the
To bear my anger proudly and unbent.

Aleta mentions in her tender letters,
Among a chain of quaint and touching things,
That you are feeble, weighted down with fetters,
And given to strange deeds and mutterings.…

About me young careless feet Linger along the garish street;
Above, a hundred shouting signs Shed down their bright fantastic glow
Upon the merry crowd and lines Of moving carriages below. Oh wonderful is Broadway — only My heart, my…

ON thy purple mat thy body bare  Is fine and limber like a tender tree.
The motion of thy supple form is rare,  Like a lithe panther lolling languidly,
Toying and turning slowly in her lair.  Oh,
I would never ask for more of thee