A Song to Accompany Today's Post ...

Strange Fruit, by Billie Holiday. This song is based on the poem by Abel Meeropol, which was inspired by the lynching of two men in Marion, Indiana. 

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
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop.