 | Poems Old and New by Charles D. Bell |  |
31
THE VESPER BELL.
I hear the sound of the Vesper Bell
Come floating across the bay,
Ringing with soft and pathetic knell,
The death of the golden day.
Come floating across the bay,
Ringing with soft and pathetic knell,
The death of the golden day.
It sinks in the soul with soothing power
As its music fills the air,
And sounds like a voice from the distant tower,
Calling to psalm and prayer.
As its music fills the air,
And sounds like a voice from the distant tower,
Calling to psalm and prayer.
The sailors hear it far out at sea,
As sunset flushes the foam,
And they bow the head, and bend the knee,
Beneath the star-lighted dome.—
As sunset flushes the foam,
And they bow the head, and bend the knee,
Beneath the star-lighted dome.—
A solemn hush lies on all the hills,
And broods o'er the tranquil sea,
Not a song of bird on the silence thrills,
Not a murmur of wandering bee.—
And broods o'er the tranquil sea,
Not a song of bird on the silence thrills,
Not a murmur of wandering bee.—
32
Is there on earth so holy a time,
Or one that can bring such calm,
As the vesper hour when the cadenced chime
Steals over the soul like a psalm?
Or one that can bring such calm,
As the vesper hour when the cadenced chime
Steals over the soul like a psalm?
And never was there a day so long,
So weary, so full of woes,
But ringeth the Bell to evensong,
And brings the sad hours to close.
So weary, so full of woes,
But ringeth the Bell to evensong,
And brings the sad hours to close.
| Poems Old and New by Charles D. Bell | |