196 
THE HOLLY TREE. 
0 Reader! hast thou ever stood to see 
The Holly tree ? 
The eye that contemplates it well perceives 
Its glossy leaves, 
Ordered by an intelligence so wise 
As might confound the atheist’s sophistries. 
Below, a circling fence its leaves are seen, 
Wrinkled and keen; 
No grazing cattle, through their prickly round 
Can reach to wound; 
But as they grow where nothing is to fear, 
Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear. 
I love to view these things with curious eyes 
And moralize; 
And in this wisdom of the Holly tree 
Can emblems see, 
Wherewith, perchance, to make a pleasant rhyme, 
One which may profit in the after-time. 
Thus, though abroad, perchance I might appear 
Harsh and austere, 
To those who on my leisure would intrude 
Reserved and rude, * 
Gentle at home amid my friends I’d be, 
Like the high leaves upon the Holly tree. 
And should my youth, as youth is apt, I know, 
Some harshness show, 
