Les Tropiques A New York. Poem by Michael Walker

Les Tropiques A New York.

Des bananes mures et vertes, et du cacao,
A la racine de gigembre et des poires d'avocat,
Et des mandarines et des mangues et du pamplemousse,
Bons au prix le plus haut aux foires de paroisse,


Poses a la vitrine, en apportant des memoires
Des arbres fruitiers charges des petits ruisseaux chantant bas,
Et des aubes mouilles, et des cieux mystiques et bleus
En benediction au-dessus des collines comme des religieuses.

Mes yeux s'obscurcissent, et je ne pouvais plus regarder;
Une vague du desir me passarapidement a travers le corps.
Et, affame envers les vieilles manieres familieres,
Je me suis detourne, me baissa la tete et j'ai pleure.


- 'The Tropics in New York.' Claude McKay.1922,2015.

Les Tropiques A New York.
This is a translation of the poem The Tropics In New York by Claude McKay
Monday, March 30, 2015
Topic(s) of this poem: homesickness
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
The visual images of fruit in shop windows remind him of his home country, Jamaica. He is so overcome by emotion that he weeps. The poem is, firstly, personal, but is also universal: people feel lost outside their own country, when they see a reminder of it. this bright-colored poem moves from joy to sorrow.
I like the four even-lined stanzas, with a rhyme scheme; abab.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Douglas Scotney 16 November 2016

did you read my poems about Paris being capital of the tropics, Michael? After Baudelaire's venture to Mauritius and shacking up with a woman of the tropics in Paris.

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Michael Walker 05 May 2015

A n accurate translation. Simon.

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