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A Poison Tree

From Songs of Experience

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears
Night & morning with my tears,
And I sunnéd it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled ;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

probably an allusion to the forbidden fruit (traditionally, but not literally, an apple) eaten by Adam and Eve; this act of disobedience incurred God's wrath and resulted in their being expelled from paradise
possibly with the entire heavens, the [poison] tree (on which the apple is growing), or to the North Star, the “pole star” around which the sky seems to rotate. If this is the case, then the night “veiling” the “pole” might indicate a particularly dark, cloudy, or foggy night.