YEA! since the need is bitter, Take down those sacred bells, Whose music speaks of hallowed joys, And passionate farewells! But ere ye fall dismantled, Ring out, deep bells! once more: And pour on the waves of the passing wind The symphonies of yore. Let the latest born be welcomed By pealings glad and long, Let the latest dead in the churchyard bed Be laid with solemn song. And the bells above them throbbing, Should sound in mournful tone, As if, in grief for a human death, They prophesied their own. Who says 'tis a desecration To strip the temple towers, And invest the metal of peaceful notes With death-compelling powers? A truce to cant and folly! Our people's ALL at stake, Shall we heed the cry of the shallow fool, Or pause for the bigot's sake? Then crush the struggling sorrow! Feed high your furnace fires, And mould into deep-mouthed guns of bronze, The bells from a hundred spires. Methinks no common vengeance, No transient war eclipse, Will follow the awful thunder-burst From their adamantine lips. A cause like ours is holy, And it useth holy things; While over the storm of a righteous strife, May shine the angel's wings. Where'er our duty leads us, The grace of God is there, And the lurid shrine of war may hold The Eucharist of prayer. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN EPITAPH, INTENDED FOR HIMSELF by JAMES BEATTIE THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT by ROBERT BURNS OF THE WARS IN IRELAND by JOHN HARRINGTON THE ARROW AND THE SONG by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE TOKEN by FRANK TEMPLETON PRINCE SONG: 1 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |