Textual History

This poem also appeared in:

In its appearance in The Liberator, this poem did not feature any line indentation.

Notes

  • Editorial Notes ?
  • Highlight Variants ?

References to Poem ?

Formats

The Tropics in New York

  1. Bananas ripe and green,# and ginger-root,

  2. Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,

  3. And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruitgrapefruit,

  4. Fit for the highest prize at parish1 fairs,.

  5. Set in the window, bringingburning memories

  6. Of fruit-trees fruit trees* laden ,* by low-singing rills sills[SIC]* ,

  7. And dewy dawns,*# and mystical blue skies

  8. In benediction over nun-like hills.

  9. My eyes grew dim, and I could no more gaze; A wave of longing overwhelmed my soul,* Mine eyes grew dim and I could no more gaze,# My eyes grew dim, and I could no more gaze:

  10. A wave of longing through my body swept, My heart grew faint ceasing its furious throbbing;*

  11. And, hungry for the old, familiar ways, And in the thronged street, losing self-control,*

  12. I turned aside and bowed my head and wept. Like a child lost and lone, I fell to sobbing.*

Contents:

Harlem Shadows (1922)

Additional Poems by Claude McKay

Contemporary Reviews

Supplementary Texts