Strange Fruit

Southern trees
Bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and
Blood at the root

Black bodies swing in the
Southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging
From poplar trees

Pastoral scene from galant south
The bulging eyes and twisted mouth

instead of magnolias sweet and fresh
sullen smell of burning flesh

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather and the wind to suck
For the sun to rot and the tree to drop

Here is a strange and
Bitter crop