Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | New Forest | | Rufus’s Tree | | John Kenyon (1784–1856) |
| | | O’ER the New Forest’s heath-hills bare, | |
| Down steep ravine, by shaggy wood, | |
| A pilgrim wandered; questing where | |
| The relic-tree of Rufus stood. | |
| |
| Whence in our England’s day of old, | 5 |
| Rushing on retribution’s wing, | |
| The arrow—so tradition told— | |
| Glanced to the heart of tyrant-king. | |
| |
| Some monument he found, which spoke | |
| What erst had happened on the spot; | 10 |
| But for that old avenging oak, | |
| Decayed long since, he found it not. | |
| |
| Yet aye, where tyrants grind a land, | |
| Let trees like this be found to grow; | |
| And never may a Tyrrel’s hand | 15 |
| Be lacking there to twang the bow! | | | | |
|
|
