| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. Church Bells | | By William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850) |
| | (“Written on landing at Ostend, and hearing, very early in the morning, the Carillons”) |
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HOW 1 sweet the tuneful bells’ responsive peal! | |
| As when, at opening morn, the fragrant breeze | |
| Breathes on the trembling sense of wan disease, | |
| So piercing to my heart their force I feel! | |
| And hark! with lessening cadence now they fall, | 5 |
| And now, along the white and level tide, | |
| They fling their melancholy music wide, | |
| Bidding me many a tender thought recall | |
| Of summer days, and those delightful years | |
| When by my native streams, in life’s fair prime, | 10 |
| The mournful magic of their mingling chime | |
| First waked my wondering childhood into tears! | |
| But seeming now, when all those days are o’er, | |
| The sounds of joy once heard, and heard no more! | |
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