University of Virginia Library

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Poems

By W. C. Bennett: New ed
  

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A RECOLLECTION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF “ION.”

Yes, I have sat before it; I have heard,
Heard with the plaudits of delightful tears,
The heart's real praises of sweet hopes and fears,
Life give a breathing utterance to each word,
Each phrase that in the hush of thought has stirr'd
My pulse so often; still to Fancy's ears
Wander low tones, in which again it hears
The gentle thoughts that have so oft recurr'd;
O dream of sorrow, ever be thy name,
Ion, a tender glory unto him
Who gave thy sweetness to the world's charm'd ears,
Gave thee, a thought to haunt the tongue of fame,
A sad sweet memory human eyes to dim,
A gentle moan of music wed to tears.