Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scenes of the gallant south

The big bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolia, clean and fresh

The sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the leaves to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots