The Cedars of Lebanon

BUT the waves of the fury of nations

Swept down on the trees of the vale,

Like rolling and wild inundations

Lashed on by the blasts of the gale.

And the strength of the cedars was shattered,

Their frames into shreds were cleft,

And their limbs on the billows were scattered,—

Yet the roots in the mountain were left.

And the seeds of the trees were taken

And lodged in the land of their foes,

And there untended, forsaken,

New cedars arose.

And the foe his proud branches entwining

Above them, shut off from their view

The sun that upon them was shining,

And robbed them of rain and of dew.

And mocked were the once mighty cedars,

Their name a disgrace was become,

For they had not, they had not the leaders

To bring them home.