The tropics in new york
claude mckay
bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root,
cocoa in pods and alligator pears,°
and tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,
fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,
5 set in the window, bringing memories
of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,
and dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies
in benediction° over nun-like hills.
my eyes grew dim, and i could no more gaze;
10 a wave of longing through my body swept,
and, hungry for the old, familiar ways,
i turned aside and bowed my head and wept.

2. alligator pears: avocados, tropical fruits. all the foods mentioned in this stanza grow in jamaica, the caribbean island where the poet was born.
6. rills: streams; brooks.
8. benediction: blessing.
the speaker of this poem is remembering —
a.
a place where he used to live
c.
where to buy some fruit
b.
how hungry he is
d.
going to church to pray