Thomas Love Peacock

A Song of Robin Hood's Men

The slender beech and the sapling oak,

That grow by the shadowy rill,

You may cut down both at a single stroke,

You may cut down which you will.


But this you must know, that as long as they grow,

Whatsoever change may be,

You can never teach either oak or beech

To be aught but a greenwood tree.