Oh, thou whose melody the heart obeys, <br />Thou who can'st all its subject passions move, <br />Whose notes to heav'n the list'ning soul can raise, <br />Can thrill with pity, or can melt with love! <br />Happy! whom nature lent this native charm; <br />Whose melting tones can shed with magic power, <br />A sweeter pleasure o'er the social hour, <br />The breast to softness sooth, to virtue warm-But <br />yet more happy! that thy life as clear <br />From discord, as thy perfect cadence flows; <br />That tun'd to sympathy, thy faithful tear, <br />In mild accordance falls for others woes; <br />That all the tender, pure affections bind <br />In chains of harmony, thy willing mind!<br /><br />Helen Maria Williams<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-to-mrs-bates/
