MUSIC. William Lisle Bowles Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Bowles, William Lisle, 1762-1850. The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. I. With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan. Edinburgh James Nichol, 9 North Bank Street... 1855 pp. 152-153.

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MUSIC . O Music ! if thou hast a charm That may the sense of pain disarm , Be all thy tender tones addressed To soothe to peace my Harriet's breast ; And bid the magic of thy strain So still the wakeful throb of pain , That , rapt in the delightful measure , Sweet Hope again may whisper pleasure , And seem the notes of Spring to hear , Prelusive to a happier year ! And if thy magic can restore The shade of days that smile no more , And softer , sweeter colours give To scenes that in remembrance live ; Be to her pensive heart a friend , And , whilst the tender shadows blend , Recall , ere the brief trace be lost , Each moment that she prized the most . Perhaps , when many a cheerful day Hereafter shall have stolen away , If then some old and favourite strain Should bring back to her thoughts again The hours when , silent by her side , I listened to her song and sighed ; Perhaps a long-forgotten name , A thought , if not a tear may claim ; And when in distant plains away , Alone I count each lingering day , She may a silent prayer prefer For him whose heart once bled for her .