 | The Poetical Works of Robert Story |  |
Stop, O Stop the Passing-Bell.
1835.
[_]
[I heard the passing-bell one morning. It was tolling for Mrs. Coulthurst, of Gargrave House—a lady respected by all. “What must her husband feel to hear these sounds!” I said, and wrote the lines.]
Stop, O stop the passing-bell!
Painfully, too painfully,
It strikes against the heart, that knell;
I cannot bear its tones—they tell
Of misery, of misery!
All that soothed and sweetened life
In the Mother and the Wife—
All that would a charm have cast
O'er the future as the past—
All is torturing in that knell!
Stop, O stop the passing-bell.
Painfully, too painfully,
It strikes against the heart, that knell;
I cannot bear its tones—they tell
Of misery, of misery!
All that soothed and sweetened life
In the Mother and the Wife—
All that would a charm have cast
O'er the future as the past—
All is torturing in that knell!
Stop, O stop the passing-bell.
241
Stop it—no! But change the tone,
And joyfully, ay, joyfully,
Let the altered chimes ring on,
For the spirit that hath flown
Exultingly, exultingly!
She hath left her couch of pain;
She shall never feel again
But as angels feel—afar
Climed beyond the morning star,
Agony and death unknown!
Let the joyful chimes ring on!
And joyfully, ay, joyfully,
Let the altered chimes ring on,
For the spirit that hath flown
Exultingly, exultingly!
She hath left her couch of pain;
She shall never feel again
But as angels feel—afar
Climed beyond the morning star,
Agony and death unknown!
Let the joyful chimes ring on!
| The Poetical Works of Robert Story | |