The Cherry Trees, The Almond Trees

The cherry trees, the almond trees are blooming in
Damascus;
The muezzin chants his morning call upon the city wall:
The sky is polished turquoise and the minarets are golden:
The city lies before me like a gay, embroidered shawl.

The cherry trees, the almond trees are blooming in
Damascus;
The caravans are starting for Arabia and the Nile;
But--cherry trees and almond trees are blooming in
Damascus,
And while they are I shall not go from here another mile.

Kansas Poets
Edited by May William Ward
(New York: Henry Harrison. 1935)
Page 36