HERE stood an Oak, that long had borne affixed To his huge trunk, or, with more subtle art, Among its withering topmost branches mixed, The palmy antlers of a hunted Hart, Whom the Dog Hercules pursued -- his part Each desperately sustaining, till at last Both sank and died, the life-veins of the chased And chaser bursting here with one dire smart. Mutual the victory, mutual the defeat! High was the trophy hung with pitiless pride; Say, rather, with that generous sympathy That wants not, even in rudest breasts, a seat; And, for this feeling's sake, let no one chide Verse that would guard thy memory, HART'S-HORN TREE! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE WATER by HAYDEN CARRUTH POETRY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: RICHARD BONE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS A FOREST HYMN by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT PANDOSTO, THE TRIUMPH OF TIME: IN PRAISE OF HIS BEST-BELOVED FAWNIA by ROBERT GREENE MOZART'S REQUIEM by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS |