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With berry bright, and leaf ne’er sere, 
It greets the “ pale declining year 
A friend, when summer friends do flee, 
A “ brother for adversity.” 
But not to fond and faithful breast 
Alone does it sweet thoughts suggest; 
Oh, no ! To thee, whom cares perplex, 
Whom troubles fright, whom crosses vex, — 
To thee, it speaks in loftier tone, 
And breathes a moral all its own. 
Come then, and from the holly tree 
Learn what thou art, and what may’st be. 
Mark how upon each earthward bough 
Edg’d with sharp thorns the leaves do grow, 
While those the higher stems that grace 
Bear of “ the prickly curse” no trace, 
As if to teach thee it design’d,— 
With earth we leave the thorn behind. 
Say thou upon whose brow is set 
Care’s thorn-entwisted coronet— 
Oh ! wouldst thou tear it thence, arise 
And seek communion with the skies : 
The nearer heaven thou soar’st, the less 
Shall that keen wreath thy temples press. 
