# Reading > Who Said That? >  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

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## 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."

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## 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.

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## 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."

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## EvoWarrior5

Yep! Very good, Shecky!

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