City Bells

Richard Harris Barham (Thomas Ingoldsby) (1788–1845)

From “The Lay of St. Aloy’s”

LOUD and clear

From the Saint Nicholas tower, on the listening ear,

With solemn swell,

The deep-toned bell

Flings to the gale a funeral knell;

And hark—at its sound,

As a cunning old hound,

When he opens, at once causes all the young whelps

Of the cry to put in their less dignified yelps,

So the little bells all,

No matter how small,

From the steeples both inside and outside the wall,

With bell-metal throat

Respond to the note,

And join the lament that a prelate so pious is

Forced thus to leave his disconsolate diocese,

Or, as Blois’ Lord May’r

Is heard to declare,

“Should leave this here world for to go to that there.”