This poem also appears in The Liberator (August, 1921): [*] Claude McKay Subway Wind The Liberator (August, 1921): 10 .
Far down, down through the city's great, gaunt gut
The gray grey* train rushing bears the weary wind;
In the packed cars the fans the crowd's breath cut,
Leaving the sick and heavy air behind.
And pale-cheeked children seek the upper door
To give their summer jackets to the breeze;
Their laugh is swallowed in the deafening roar
Of captive wind that moans for fields and seas;
Seas cooling warm where native schooners drift
Through sleepy waters,* while where* gulls wheel and sweep,
Waiting for windy waves the their keels to lift
Lightly among the islands of the deep;
Islands of lofty palm trees blooming white
That lend their perfume to the tropic sea,
Where fields lie idle in the dew drenched dew-drenched* night,
And the Trades float above them fresh and free.