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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AFTER THE WINTER by CLAUDE MCKAY

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: SOME DAY, WHEN TREES HAVE SHED THEIR LEAVES
Last Line: AND FERNS THAT NEVER FADE.
Subject(s): NATURE;
Some day, when trees have shed their leaves
And against the morning's white
The shivering birds beneath the eaves
Have sheltered for the night,
We'll turn our faces southward, love,
Toward the summer isle
Where bamboos spire the shafted grove
And wide-mouthed orchids smile.

And we will seek the quiet hill
Where towers the cotton tree,
And leaps the laughing crystal rill,
And works the droning bee.
And we will build a cottage there
Beside an open glade,
With black-ribbed bluebells blowing near,
And ferns that never fade.


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