Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves

Blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

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Pastoral scene of the gallow south

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The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

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The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

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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 tree to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop