Poem by Claude McKay

North and South

O sweet are tropic lands for waking dreams! 
There time and life move lazily along. 
There by the banks of blue-and-silver streams 
Grass-sheltered crickets chirp incessant song, 
Gay-colored lizards loll all through the day, 
Their tongues outstretched for careless little flies, 
And swarthy children in the fields at play, 
Look upward laughing at the smiling skies. 
A breath of idleness is in the air 
That casts a subtle spell upon all things, 
And love and mating-time are everywhere, 
And wonder to life’s commonplaces clings. 
The fluttering humming-bid darts through the trees 
And dips his long beak in the big bell-flowers, 
The leisured buzzard floats upon the breeze, 
Riding a crescent cloud for endless hours, 
The sea beats softly on the emerald strands-- 
O sweet for quiet dreams are tropic lands!

1. Alfonso, Dressing to Wait at Table
2. The Wild Goat
3. The Tired Worker
4. Tormented
5. Flirtation

James Riley North and South ("Of the North I wove a dream")

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