



lone 
NHEY, 
ostic 
HOLLY. 
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 Id 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. 
And as, when all the summer trees are seen 
So bright and green, 
The holly leaves a sober hue display, 
Less bright than they ; 
But when the bare and wintry woods we see, 
What then so cheerful as the Holly tree ?— 

