The Broken Bell
The Broken Bell
Original Text
Toru Dutt, A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (London: C. Kegan Paul, 1880): 271. Internet Archive
1'Tis bitter-sweet on winter nights to note,
2Beside the palpitating fire reclined,
3The chimes, across the fogs, upon the wind.
4Now loud, now low, now near and now remote.
5What recollections on that music float!
6Blessed the bell that through the darkness blind
7Sends honest greetings, consolations kind.
8And solemn warnings from its lusty throat
9Tis like a wakeful soldier, -- mine, alas!
10The soul-bell in me, can but give one cry,
11Like that, a wounded soldier -- o'er whom pass
12Riders and horses, and around whom lie
13The dead and dying in a tangled mass --
14Utters, unable or to move or die.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
Data entry: Sharine Leung
RPO Edition
2012
Rhyme
Form