Published, 1845.

* * * * *

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 their 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 a 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,
  In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire
  Leaping higher, higher, higher,
  With a desperate desire,
  And a resolute endeavor
  Now—­now to sit or never,
  By the side of the pale-faced moon. 
  Oh, the bells, bells, bells! 
  What a tale their terror tells
  Of Despair! 
  How they clang, and clash, and roar! 
  What a horror they outpour
  On the bosom of the palpitating air! 
  Yet the ear it fully knows,
  By the twanging,
  And the clanging,
  How the danger ebbs and flows;
  Yet the ear distinctly tells,
  In the jangling,
  And the wrangling,
  How the danger sinks and swells,
  By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells—­
  Of the bells—­
  Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
  Bells, bells, bells—­
  In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

IV.