Poem by Thomas Moore

From “Irish Melodies”. 35. On Music

When thro’ life unblest we rove,
  	Losing all that made life dear,
Should some notes we used to love,
  	In days of boyhood, meet our ear,
Oh! how welcome breathes the strain!
  	Wakening thoughts that long have slept;
Kindling former smiles again
  	In faded eyes that long have wept!

Like the gale, that sighs along
  	Beds of oriental flowers,
Is the grateful breath of song,
  	That once was heard in happier hours;
Filled with balm, the gale sighs on,
  	Tho’ the flowers have sunk in death;
So, when pleasure’s dream is gone,
  	Its memory lives in Music’s breath!

Music, oh how faint, how weak,
  	Language fades before thy spell!
Why should Feeling ever speak,
  	When thou canst breathe her soul so well?
Friendship’s balmy words may feign,
  	Love’s are even more false than they;
Oh! ’tis only music’s strain
  	Can sweetly soothe, and not betray!

1. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 54
2. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 46
3. From “Irish Melodies”. 113. Alone in Crowds to Wander On
4. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 17
5. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 15

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