Poem by Claude McKay

To One Coming North

At first you’ll joy to see the playful snow, 
Like white moths trembling on the tropic air, 
Or waters of the hills that softly flow 
Gracefully falling down a shining stair. 

And when the fields and streets are covered white 
And the wind-worried void is chilly, raw, 
Or underneath a spell of heat and light 
The cheerless frozen spots begin to thaw, 

Like me you’ll long for home, where birds’ glad song 
Means flowering lanes and leas and spaces dry, 
And tender thoughts and feelings fine and strong, 
Beneath a vivid silver-flecked blue sky. 

But oh! more than the changeless southern isles, 
When Spring has shed upon the earth her charm, 
You’ll love the Northland wreathed in golden smiles 
By the miraculous sun turned glad and warm.

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

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