| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
| |
| Francis Mahony. 1805–1866 |
| |
| 677. The Bells of Shandon |
| |
| WITH deep affection, | |
| And recollection, | |
| I often think of | |
| Those Shandon bells, | |
| Whose sounds so wild would, | 5 |
| In the days of childhood, | |
| Fling around my cradle | |
| Their magic spells. | |
| On this I ponder | |
| Where'er I wander, | 10 |
| And thus grow fonder, | |
| Sweet Cork, of thee; | |
| With thy bells of Shandon, | |
| That sound so grand on | |
| The pleasant waters | 15 |
| Of the River Lee. | |
| |
| I've heard bells chiming | |
| Full many a clime in, | |
| Tolling sublime in | |
| Cathedral shrine, | 20 |
| While at a glib rate | |
| Brass tongues would vibrate— | |
| But all their music | |
| Spoke naught like thine; | |
| For memory, dwelling | 25 |
| On each proud swelling | |
| Of the belfry knelling | |
| Its bold notes free, | |
| Made the bells of Shandon | |
| Sound far more grand on | 30 |
| The pleasant waters | |
| Of the River Lee. | |
| |
| I've heard bells tolling | |
| Old Adrian's Mole in, | |
| Their thunder rolling | 35 |
| From the Vatican, | |
| And cymbals glorious | |
| Swinging uproarious | |
| In the gorgeous turrets | |
| Of Notre Dame; | 40 |
| But thy sounds were sweeter | |
| Than the dome of Peter | |
| Flings o'er the Tiber, | |
| Pealing solemnly— | |
| O, the bells of Shandon | 45 |
| Sound far more grand on | |
| The pleasant waters | |
| Of the River Lee. | |
| |
| There 's a bell in Moscow, | |
| While on tower and kiosk O! | 50 |
| In Saint Sophia | |
| The Turkman gets, | |
| And loud in air | |
| Calls men to prayer | |
| From the tapering summits | 55 |
| Of tall minarets. | |
| Such empty phantom | |
| I freely grant them; | |
| But there 's an anthem | |
| More dear to me,— | 60 |
| 'Tis the bells of Shandon, | |
| That sound so grand on | |
| The pleasant waters | |
| Of the River Lee. | |
|
|
