Claude Mckay

Far down, down through the city’s great, gaunt gut,

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 doorTo give their summer jackets to the breeze;Their laugh is swallowed in the deafening roarOf captive wind that moans for fields and seas;Seas cooling warm where native schooners driftThrough sleepy waters, while gulls wheel…

Alfonso is a handsome bronze-hued lad

His moods are storms that frighten and make glad,His eyes were made to capture women’s hearts.Down in the glory-hole Alfonso singsAn olden song of wine and clinking glassesAnd riotous rakes; magnificently flingsGay kisses to imaginary lasses.Alfonso’s voice of mellow music thrillsOur swaying forms and steals our hearts with joy;And when he soars, his fine falsetto…

The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light,

When all the world was young in pregnant nightThy slaves toiled at thy monumental best.Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize,New peoples marvel at thy pyramids!The years roll on, thy sphinx of riddle eyesWatches the mad world with immobile lids.The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaoh’s name.Cradle of Power! Yet all things were in vain!Honor and Glory,…

Two-An’-Six

Merry voices chatterin’,Nimble feet dem patterin’,Big an’ little, faces gay,Happy day dis market day.Sateday, de marnin’ break,Soon, soon market-people wake;An’ de light shine from de moonWhile dem boy, wid pantaloonRoll up ober dem knee-pan,‘Tep across de buccra lan’To de pastur whe’ de harseFeed along wid de jackass,An’ de mule cant’ in de trackWid him tail…

At first you’ll joy to see the playful snow,

Or waters of the hills that softly flowGracefully falling down a shining stair.And when the fields and streets are covered whiteAnd the wind-worried void is chilly, raw,Or underneath a spell of heat and lightThe cheerless frozen spots begin to thaw,Like me you’ll long for home, where birds’ glad songMeans flowering lanes and leas and spaces…

I

Snow-fairies falling, falling from the sky,Whirling fantastic in the misty air,Contending fierce for space supremacy.And they flew down a mightier force at night,As though in heaven there was revolt and riot,And they, frail things had taken panic flightDown to the calm earth seeking peace and quiet.I went to bed and rose at early dawnTo see…