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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AN ODE TO MUSIC: 7 by JAMES GATES PERCIVAL

First Line: BUT OH MELPOMENE! THY LYRE OF WOE
Last Line: TO INFANT SOFTNESS SUNK, AS BREATHED THY MOURNFUL LAY.
Subject(s): MUSIC & MUSICIANS;

But oh Melpomene! thy lyre of woe --
To what a mournful pitch its keys were strung,
And when thou badest its tones of sorrow flow,
Each weeping Muse, enamored, o'er thee hung:
How sweet -- how heavenly sweet, when faintly rose
The song of grief, and at its dying close
The soul seemed melting in the trembling breast;
The eye in dews of pity flowed away,
And every heart, by sorrow's load opprest,
To infant softness sunk, as breathed thy mournful lay.





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