VERY STRONG STUFF
Strange Fruit
Southern trees
bear a strange fruit;
blood on the leaves
and blood at the root
black bodies swaying in the southern breeze:
strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
those bulging eyes and that twisted mouth
scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
and the sudden smell
of burning flesh.
Here is a fruit
for the wind to suck
for the rain to gather
for the crow to pluck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop:
here is a stange and vicious crop.
--written by an Italian Jew in Baltiomore for Billie Holliday