THE HOLLY TREE. 
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 ; 
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. 
