The Bells

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THE BELLS

I.

HEAR the sledges with the bells --

Silver bells !

What a world of merriment their melody foretells !

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,

In the icy air of night !

While the stars that oversprinkle

All the heavens, seem to twinkle

With a crystalline delight ;

Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme,

To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells

From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells --

From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II.

Hear the mellow wedding bells

Golden bells!

What a world of happiness their harmony foretells !

Through the balmy air of night

How they ring out their delight !

From the molten-golden notes,

And all in tune,

What a liquid ditty floats

To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats

On the moon !

Oh, from out the sounding cells,

What a gush of euphony voluminously wells !

How it swells !

How it dwells

On the Future ! how it tells

Of the rapture that impels

To the swinging and the ringing

Of the bells, bells, bells,

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells --

To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells !

III.

Hear the loud alarum bells --

Brazen bells !

What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells !

In the startled ear of night

How they scream out their affright !

Too much horrified to speak,

They can only shriek, shriek,

Out of tune,

In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,

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