Across the dunes, a tale unfolds
Of one man's daring, brave and bold
A warrior-scholar, desert-bound
Lawrence of Arabia, world-renowned

In sands of gold and skies of blue
A British soldier, bold and true
With Arabs riding at his side
Lawrence of Arabia would ride

Lawrence, Lawrence, desert wind
Defying rank, he'd never bend
From Sinai to Damascus' fall
His legend would outshine them all

No uniform or brass for him
He led by wit and desert vim
The Turks he fought with tactics bold
While mocking brass and rank untold

Guerrilla warfare was his game
The desert knew and feared his name
With Bedouin tribes he found his place
And led them on a victor's race

When war was done, he sought no fame
Just peace and quiet, a simpler name
But legends never truly fade
His tale in books and film was made

On two wheels flying, wind in his hair
No enemy could catch him there
But fate, it seems, had other plans
On English roads, his final stand

Lawrence, Lawrence, desert wind
Your journey's reached its bitter end
From Arabic sands to English shore
Your spirit rides forevermore

The sands of time may shift and blow
But Lawrence's legend continues to grow
In war and peace, he blazed a trail
A desert wind that will not fail

The oak in later August,
Before his leaves are strewn,
And the sky is blue as June,
Trembles from trunk to branches
For frosts that will be soon
From the valleys of the moon!

For breezes blown in August
Veer north with cold and rain;
And the oak tree sighs and shivers
For lights that shift and wane:
As a strong man sees the specters
Of age, disease and pain,
The oak flings up to heaven
His branches in the rain.

September comes, September
Spreads out a sky that chills.
The owl hoots and the cricket
Beside the roadway shrills,
And on the stricken hills.
But the oak tree, the oak tree
Still flaunts his shining leaves.
No change has come but swallows
Who fled the summer eaves!

But when October breezes,
And cold November gales
Descend upon the oak tree,
What strength of him avails,
Grown naked to the tempest
For life that sleeps and fails?
O oak tree, oak tree,
The winter snow prevails!
It cannot be your branches,
It is the wind that wails!