Part 16 (2/2)

Iron bells!.

What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!

In the silence of the night, How we s.h.i.+ver with affright At the melancholy meaning of their tone!

For every sound that floats From the rust within their throats.

Is a groan.

And the people-ah, the people- They that dwell up in the steeple, All alone, And who tolling, tolling, tolling, In that m.u.f.fled monotone, Feel a glory in so rolling On the human heart a stone- They are neither man nor woman- They are neither brute nor human- They are Ghouls: And their king it is who tolls; And he rolls, rolls, rolls, Rolls A paean from the bells!

And his merry bosom swells With the paean of the bells!

And he dances, and he yells; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the paean of the bells-.

Of the bells:.

Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the throbbing of the bells- Of the bells, bells, bells- To the sobbing of the bells; Keeping time, time, time, As he knells, knells, knells, In a happy Runic rhyme, To the rolling of the bells- Of the bells, bells, bells- To the tolling of the bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells- Bells, bells, bells- To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

end.

<script>