Tuesday Poem: "Strange Fruit" by Abel Meeropol

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

by Abel Meeropol 

Abel Meeropol

Billie Holiday

For more about this moving poem which was adapted to become a famous song, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit

For Billie Holiday's famous rendering of the song: