Those holies of themselves a shape
As of an arbor took.

Those holies of themselves a shape
As of an arbor took.

O Reader! hast thou ever stood to see
The Holly-tree?
The eye that contemplates it well perceives
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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.

And as, when all the summer trees are seen
So bright and green,
The Holly leaves a read more

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?

Green, slender, leaf-clad holly boughs
Were twisted gracefu' round her brows,
I took her for some Scottish read more

Green, slender, leaf-clad holly boughs
Were twisted gracefu' round her brows,
I took her for some Scottish Muse,
By that same token,
An' come to stop those reckless vows,
Would soon be broken.