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Charlotte Smith - Apostrophe
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TO AN OLD TREE. 

WHERE thy broad branches brave the bitter North,
Like rugged, indigent, unheeded, worth,
Lo! Vegetation`s guardian hands emboss
Each giant limb with fronds of studded moss,
That clothes the bark in many a fringed fold
Begemm`d with scarlet shields, and cups of gold,
Which, to the wildest winds their webs oppose,
And mock the arrowy sleet, or weltering snows.
--But to the warmer West the woodbine fair
With tassels that perfumed the summer air,
The mantling clematis, whose feathery bowers
Waved in festoons with nightshade`s purple flowers,
The silver weed, whose corded fillets wove
Round thy pale rind, even as deceitful love
Of mercenary beauty would engage
The dotard fondness of decrepit age;
All these, that during summer`s halcyon days
With their green canopies conceal`d thy sprays,
Are gone for ever; or disfigured, trail
Their sallow relicts in the autumnal gale;
Or o`er thy roots, in faded fragments toss`d,
But tell of happier hours, and sweetness lost!
--Thus in Fate`s trying hour, when furious storms
Strip social life of Pleasure`s fragile forms,
And awful Justice , as his rightful prey
Tears Luxury`s silk, and jewel`d robe, away,
While reads Adversity her lesson stern,
And Fortune`s minions tremble as they learn;
The crowds around her gilded car that hung,
Bent the lithe knee, and troul`d the honey`d tongue,
Desponding fall, or fly in pale despair;
And Scorn alone remembers that they were.
Not so Integrity ; unchanged he lives
In the rude armour conscious Honour gives,
And dares with hardy front the troubled sky,
In Honesty`s uninjured panoply.
Ne`er on Prosperity`s enfeebling bed
Or rosy pillows, he reposed his head,

But given to useful arts, his ardent mind
Has sought the general welfare of mankind;
To mitigate their ills his greatest bliss,
While studying them , has taught him what he is ;
He , when the human tempest rages worst,
And the earth shudders as the thunders burst,
Firm, as thy northern branch, is rooted fast,
And if he can`t avert , endures the blast.
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