The Tree

The Tree

Original Text
Miscellany Poems (London: for J. B. and sold by Benjamin Tooke, 1713). B-10 5738 Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto).
1Fair tree! for thy delightful shade
2'Tis just that some return be made;
3Sure some return is due from me
4To thy cool shadows, and to thee.
5When thou to birds dost shelter give,
6Thou music dost from them receive;
7If travellers beneath thee stay
8Till storms have worn themselves away,
9That time in praising thee they spend
10And thy protecting pow'r commend.
11The shepherd here, from scorching freed,
12Tunes to thy dancing leaves his reed;
13Whilst his lov'd nymph, in thanks, bestows
14Her flow'ry chaplets on thy boughs.
15Shall I then only silent be,
16And no return be made by me?
17No; let this wish upon thee wait,
18And still to flourish be thy fate.
19To future ages may'st thou stand
20Untouch'd by the rash workman's hand,
21Till that large stock of sap is spent,
22Which gives thy summer's ornament;
23Till the fierce winds, that vainly strive
24To shock thy greatness whilst alive,
25Shall on thy lifeless hour attend,
26Prevent the axe, and grace thy end;
27Their scatter'd strength together call
28And to the clouds proclaim thy fall;
29Who then their ev'ning dews may spare
30When thou no longer art their care,
31But shalt, like ancient heroes, burn,
32And some bright hearth be made thy urn.
Publication Start Year
1713
RPO poem Editors
G. G. Falle
RPO Edition
3RP 2.63-64.
Form