THE

HOLLY AND MISTLETOE.

THE HOLLY TREE.

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 thro' their prickly round
Can reach, to wound,

But as they grow where nothing is to fear,
Smooth and unarm'd the pointless leaves appear.

B

I love to view these things with curious eyes,
And moralize;

And in the wisdom of the Holly Tree
Can emblems see

Wherewith, perchance, to make a pleasant rhyme,
Such as may profit in the aftertime.

So, 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.

And as when all the summer trees are seen
So bright and green,

The holly leaves their fadeless hues display
Less bright than they;

But when the bare and wintry woods we see,
What then so cheerful as the Holly Tree?

The Holly Tree.

As serious should my youth appear among
The thoughtless throng,

So would I seem among the young and gay
More grave than they,—

That in my age as cheerful I might be
As the green winter of the Holly Tree.

SOUTHEY.

3

LINES BY GOETHE.

A LONGING long unfelt, a deep drawn sighing
For the far Spirit-world o'erpowers me now;
My song's faint voice sinks fainter, like the dying
Tones of the wind-harp swinging from the bough;
And my changed heart throbs warm,—no more denying
Tears to my eyes or sadness to my brow.

The Near afar off seems, the Distant-nigh,
The Now-a dream, the Past-reality.

Translated by HALLECK.

JOLLY berries, holly berries,

Red and bright and beaming,
Through the dusky evergreens
Like sprays of coral gleaming;
Ye have power to fill the heart
With memories of glee:

Oh, what happy thoughts can cling
Round the holly tree!

When I see the holly berries,

I can think I hear

Merry chimes and carols sweet

Ringing in my ear.

Christmas, with its blazing fires
And happy hearths I see :

Oh, what merry thoughts can cling
Round the holly tree!

Bring the glowing holly berries;

Snow is lying deep;

All the gay and blooming flowers

Till the spring-time sleep.