ON A DRAWING OF THE ELM-TREE; ... DUKE OF WELLINGTON STOOD by GEORGE CRABBE

IS there one heart that beats on English ground,
One grateful spirit in the kingdoms round:
One who had traced the progress of the foe,
And does not hail the field of Waterloo?
Who o'er that field, if but in thought, has gone
Without a grateful wish for Wellington?
Within that field of glory rose a Tree
(Which a fair hand has given us here to see),
A noble tree, that, pierced by many a ball,
Fell not -- decreed in time of peace to fall:
Nor shall it die unsung; for there shall be
In many a noble verse the praise of thee,
With that heroic chief -- renown'd and glorious tree! --
Men shall divide thee, and thy smallest part
Shall be to warm and stir the English heart;
Form'd into shapes as fancy may design,
In all, fair fame and honour shall be thine.
The noblest ladies in the land with joy
Shall own thy value in the slightest toy;
Preserved through life, it shall a treasure prove,
And left to friends, a legacy of love.
And thou, fair semblance of that tree sublime,
Shalt a memorial be to distant time;
Shalt wake a grateful sense in every heart,
And noble thoughts to opening minds impart;
Who shall hereafter learn what deeds were done,
What nations freed by Heaven and Wellington.
Heroic tree we surely this may call --
Wounded it fell, and numbers mourn'd its fall;
It fell for many here, but there it stood for all.

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