 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
ARBOR NOBILIS.
I
Like a cedar our greatness arose from the earth;Or a plane by some broad-flowing river;
Like arms that give blessing its boughs it put forth:
We thought it would bless us for ever.
The birds of the air in its branches found rest;
The old lions couched in its shadow;
Like a cloud o'er the sea was its pendulous crest;
It murmur'd for leagues o'er the meadow.
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II
Was a worm at its root? Was it lightning that charr'dWhat age after age had created?
Not so! 'Twas the merchant its glory that marr'd
And the malice that, fearing it, hated.
Its branches lie splintered; the hollow trunk groans
Like a church that survives desolations;
But the leaves, scatter'd far when the hurricane moans,
For the healing are sent to the nations!
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |