118 
Floral Poetry. 
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 moralise; 
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, 
All vain asperities I, day by day, 
Would wear away, 
Till the smooth temper of my age should be 
Like the high leaves upon the Holly tree. 
