Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,

And burnèd is Apollo's laurel bough,

That sometime grew within this learnèd man.

Christopher Marlowe (1565-1593): Faustus.

Merrily, merrily shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Tempest. Act v. Sc. 1.

The bud is on the bough again,

The leaf is on the tree.

Charles Jefferys (1807-1865): The Meeting of Spring and Summer.

Woodman, spare that tree!

Touch not a single bough!

In youth it sheltered me,

And I 'll protect it now.

George P Morris (1802-1864): Woodman, spare that Tree! 1830.