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1759–1827

SONNET,

Helen Maria Williams

Oh, thou whose melody the heart obeys, Thou who can'st all its subject passions move, Whose notes to heav'n the list'ning soul can raise, Can thrill with pity, or can melt with love!

Happy! whom nature lent this native charm; Whose melting tones can shed with magic power, A sweeter pleasure o'er the social hour, The breast to softness sooth, to virtue warm —

But yet more happy! that thy life as clear From discord, as thy perfect cadence flows; That tun'd to sympathy, thy faithful tear, In mild accordance falls for others woes;

That all the tender, pure affections bind In chains of harmony, thy willing mind!

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SONNET, · Helen Maria Williams · Poetry Cove