Strange Fruit

STRANGE FRUIT

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood at the leaves and blood at the roots
Black bodies swinging in the open breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to sulk
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop.