[Page 48]

The Oak and its Branches.

A Fable. Occasion'd by seeing a dead Oak beautifully encompass'd with Ivy.

1 An Oak, with spreading Branches crown'd,
2 Beheld an Ivy on the Ground,
3 Expos'd to ev'ry trampling Beast,
4 That roam'd around the dreary Waste.
5 The Tree of Jove, in all his State,
6 With Pity view'd the Ivy's Fate;
7 And kindly told her, She should find
8 Security around his Rind:
9 Nor was that only his Intent,
10 But to bestow some Nourishment.
11 The Branches saw, and griev'd to see
12 Some Juices taken from the Tree.
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13 Parent, say they, in angry Tone,
14 Your Sap should nourish us alone:
15 Why should you nurse this Stranger Plant,
16 With what your Sons, in time, may want;
17 May want, to raise us high in Air,
18 And make us more distinguish'd there.
19 'Tis well the Parent-Tree reply'd;
20 Must I, to gratify your Pride,
21 Act only with a narrow View
22 Of doing Good to none but you?
23 Know, Sons, tho' Jove hath made me great,
24 I am not safe from Storms of Fate.
25 Is it not prudent then, I pray,
26 To guard against another Day?
27 Whilst I'm alive, You crown my Head;
28 This graces me alive, and dead.

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Title (in Source Edition): The Oak and its Branches. A Fable. Occasion'd by seeing a dead Oak beautifully encompass'd with Ivy.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: parents; children; nature
Genres: fable
References: DMI 11355

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Source edition

Barber, Mary, ca. 1690-1757. Poems on Several Occasions [poems only]. London: Printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1734, pp. 48-49. xlviii,283,[7]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T42622; DMI 519; Foxon p. 45) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 3644].)

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