Christmas Bells / Edward Robeson Taylor

Christmas Bells

Ring out, O heartsome Christmas Bells,
     Ring clear, and deep, and long,
Till every noblest feeling swells
     To crush the mean and wrong;
Till love, with her angelic train,
     Encamps within the soul,
And bids her most melodious strain
     Throughout its chambers roll;
          Till raging ires'
          Pernicious fires
In all the lands die down and cease,
While reigns supreme the King of Peace.
     Ring out, ye Christmas Bells!

Ring out, O sacred Christmas Bells,
     Ring far, and loud, and long,
Till once again within us swells
     That old, earth given song,
First heard beneath the wondrous ray
      Which led the Magians where
An infant all divinely lay,
     And breathed immortal air;
          Till we shall heed
          His simple creed,
And learn, as on we stumbling go,
To love is better than to know.
     Ring out, ye Christmas Bells!

Ring out, O memoried Christmas Bells,
     Ring sweet, and low, and long,
Till every bosom gently swells
     With thoughts, in grieving throng,
Of brightsome eyes that fondly shone
     On ours this hallowed day,
Of lips that spake with tenderest tone,
     Now passed from earth away;
          But while we hear
          The bells ring clear,
Those eyes again with fondness shine,
Those lips bespeak a joy divine.
     Ring out, ye Christmas Bells!

~~
Edward Robeson Taylor (1838-1923)
from Into the Light, and other verse, 1906

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Edward Robeson Taylor biography