H O L L Y. 
(Foresight.) 
“I, in this wisdom of the holly-tree, can emblems see.”—SOUTHEY. 
HIS tree is sacred to Christmas and domestic 
mirth. 
THE HOLLY TREE. 
SOUTHEY. 
O 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 ; 
