Strange Fruit (original by Abel Meeropol)

(English Below)

 

καρπὸν τὰ τοῦ νότου ξύλα φέρει ἄτοπον

(ἐπί τε φύλλοις αἷμα, τῇ τε ῥίζῃ αἷμα)

ἀνέμῳ σῶμα αἰωρούμενον μέλαν νότῳ

ἄτοπος τῶν λευκῶν κρεμασθεὶς καρπός 

 

νόμιον τοῦ ἐσθλοῦ νότου θέαμα

ἐξῳδημένα τε ὄμματα στόμα τε διεστραμμένον

μαγνωλίᾱς εὐωδίᾱ καινή

καιομένης ὀσμὴ σαρκός ἀλέπτη 

 

καρπὸς τῇδε τοῖς κόραξι δρέπειν

τῷ ὑετῷ συλλέγειν, τῷ ἀνέμῳ ἀνασπᾶν

τῷ ἠελίῳ σήπειν, τῷ ξύλῳ καθιέναι

καρπὸς τῇδε ἄτοπός τε πικρός τε.

 

Original

Southern trees bear strange fruit,

(Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,)

Black body swinging in the southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

 

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

(The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,)

Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh,

(And 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 a tree to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.