Beneath the Yampy Shade
We sit beneat’ de yampy shade,
My lee sweetheart an’ I;
De gully ripples ’cross de glade,
Tom Rafflins hurry by.
Her pa an’ ma about de fiel’
Are brukin’ sugar-pine;
An’ plenty, plenty is de yiel’,
Dem look so pink an’ fine.
We listen to a rapturous chune
Outpourin’ from above;
De swee-swees, blithesome birds of June,
They sing to us of love.
She plays wid de triangle leaves,
Her hand within mine slips;
She murmurs love, her bosom heaves,
I kiss her ripe, ripe lips.
De cockstones raise deir droopin’ heads
To view her pretty feet;
De skellions trimble in deir beds,
Dey grudge our lub so sweet—
Love sweeter than a bridal dream,
A mudder’s fondest kiss;
Love purer than a crystal stream,
De height of eart’ly bliss.
We hear again de swee-swees’ song
Outpourin’ on de air;
Dey sing for yout’, an’ we are young
An’ know naught ’bouten care.
We sit beneat’ de yampy shade,
We pledge our hearts anew;
De swee-swees droop, de bell-flowers fade
Before our love so true.
From Songs of Jamaica (Aston W. Gardner & Co., 1912) by Claude McKay. This poem is in the public domain.