University of Virginia Library


46

SONNET To a Gentleman, who presented the Author with a Violin.

O! Harmony, sweet minstrel of the spheres,
Who know'st to raise the rapturous glow,
Or wake the tenderest tear of woe,
Come, dear companion of my future years!
Oft in sorrow's saddest hour
The softest magic of thy power,
Shall sooth my troubled breast to peace,
Till the hushed storm shall seem to cease;
Oft, when the tumults of my joy run high,
Shall lull my melted soul in extasy.
—While still, O L------n, still shall Memory
Uprear her listening head, and, as they float,
Still catch the cadence of each thrilling note
Thinking it sounds of Gratitude and Thee.