THE GIFT

Words in The Western Minstrel, 1831.
Tune: CONDESCENSION, Missouri Harmony p. 44; 
      MELODY, Sacred Harp (1850), p. 286.


   Accept from me this cedar tree,
    And keep it evermore,
   An emblem true of love in you,
    Thou maid that I adore.

   Its foliage green is always seen,
    Nor withers in the frost;
   So constant love too strong will prove
    To be forgot or lost.

   It grew beside, and roots were tied,
    To one of its own kind;
   And on it's found the parting wound,
    Emblem of our torn mind.
    
   The one behind, I'll nourish kind,
    Tho' parted, both shall grow;
   Should either die, then thou or I
    Have ceased to love, we'll know.

   O take and save this cedar, gave
    From fond affection's hand,
   A pledge to be, when thou from me
    Art in a distant land.