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Chapter 1

THE BELLS

EDGAR ALLAN POE

I

Hear the sledges with the bells -
Silver bells

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight -
Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme,

To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells

From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II

Hear the mellow wedding bells

Golden bells!

What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!

Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And all in tune.

What a liquid ditty floats

To the turtle dove that listens while she gloats On the moon!

O from out the sounding cells,

What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!

How it dwells

On the Future! How it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells —

To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells.

III

Hear the loud alarum bells

Brazen bells!

What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells! In the startled ear of night

How they scream out their affright!

Too much horrified to speak,

They can only shriek, shriek,

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