Quote I just came across

[EvoWarrior5]

"What is last year’s snow to me,
Last year's anything? The tree
Budding yearly must forget
How its past arose or set—
Bough and blossom, flower, fruit,
Even what shy bird with mute
Wonder at her travail there,
Meekly labored in its hair."

I am reading poems for this Friday's American Literature seminar. Just now I crossed this quote and I think it is lovely.

I am curious to see how many people recognise this quote, e.g. how famous is this poem, really? It's from the Harlem Renaissance and as far as I know a significant and representative author from that age.

Evo

[Nick Capozzoli]

Sorry, I can't identify the author. The first line makes me think of the famous translation of Villon's "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" "Hair" seems to mar the last line. I think I know what the poet meant ("hair" refers to either flower parts or perhaps even the tree's foliage), but it seems to be forced for the sake of a rhyme with "there."

[AuntShecky]

You gave us a great clue with Harlem Renaissance. I knew the lines were too measured to be those of the great Langston Hughes, so I thought of someone who was more of a traditionalist. Countee Cullen is my guess. Don't know the title of the poem.

[AuntShecky]

By checking in my Norton anthology, I can now confirm these lines are those of Countee Cullen from from a longer 1927 poem entitled "Heritage."

[EvoWarrior5]

Yep! Very good, Shecky!