Home > Authors Index > Browse all available works of Alfred Noyes > Text of Bell
A poem by Alfred Noyes |
||
The Bell |
||
________________________________________________
Title: The Bell Author: Alfred Noyes [More Titles by Noyes] The Temple Bell was out of tune, Instead of calling folk to prayer Instead of a song, from north to south, The very palms beneath it died, Then the gods told the blue-robed bonze: _Lower it down, cast it again, Then, as the mighty cauldron hissed, Yea, they brought silver, they brought gold, The miser brought his greening hoard, Yet, when the Bell in the Temple swung, "_Is this your best?_" the oracle said, Once again they melted it down, Then they poured wine, and bullock's blood, They gave it mellowing fruits to eat, Yet, when they hauled it to the sky, So, for the third time and the last, The white-hot metal seethed anew, But a white-robed woman, queenly and tall, One breast, like a golden fruit lay bare; She plucked him off, she lifted him high, She pressed her lips to the budded feet, She whispered, "_Gods, that my land may live, Then, then, before the throng awoke, She tossed him into the fiery flood, And the crisp hissing waves closed round "_Too quick for pain_," they heard her say, * * * * * The Temple Bell, in peace and war, But sometimes, in the night it cries _Mother, Oh, mother, the Bell rings true!-- [The end] GO TO TOP OF SCREEN |