Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb;
Keep clean, be read more

Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb;
Keep clean, be as fruit, earn life, and watch,
Till the white-wing'd reapers come.

The monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees,
Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees.
Three read more

The monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees,
Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees.
Three centuries he grows, and three he stays
Supreme in state; and in three more decays.

The tall Oak, towering to the skies,
The fury of the wind defies,
From age to age, read more

The tall Oak, towering to the skies,
The fury of the wind defies,
From age to age, in virtue strong.
Inured to stand, and suffer wrong.

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.

What? Was man made a wheel-work to wind up,
And be discharged, and straight wound up anew?
read more

What? Was man made a wheel-work to wind up,
And be discharged, and straight wound up anew?
No! grown, his growth lasts; taught, he ne'er forgets;
May learn a thousand things, not twice the same.

Gard'ner, for telling me these news of woe,
Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never grow.

Gard'ner, for telling me these news of woe,
Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never grow.

'Tis thus the mercury of man is fix'd,
Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix'd.

'Tis thus the mercury of man is fix'd,
Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix'd.

The great world's altar stairs
That slope through darkness up to God.

The great world's altar stairs
That slope through darkness up to God.

Tall oaks from little acorns grow.

Tall oaks from little acorns grow.