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; eeping time, time, time, In a sort of !"nic rhyme, #o the tintinnab"lation that so m"sically wells $rom the bells, bells, bells, bells, %ells, bells, bells $rom the &ingling and the tinkling of the bells' II Hear the mellow wedding bells (olden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! #hro"gh the balmy air of night How they ring o"t their delight! $rom the molten - golden notes, And all in t"ne, What a li)"id ditty floats #o the t"rtle - dove that listens, while she gloats *n the moon! *h, from o"t the so"nding cells, What a g"sh of e"phony vol"mino"sly wells! How it swells! How it dwells *n the $"t"re! - how it tells *f the rapt"re that impels

#o the swinging and the ringing *f the bells, bells, bells *f the bells, bells, bells, bells, %ells, bells, bells #o the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! III Hear the lo"d alar"m bells %ra+en bells! What a tale of terror, now, their t"rb"lency tells! In the startled ear of night How they scream o"t their affright! #oo m"ch horrified to speak, #hey can only shriek, shriek, *"t of t"ne, In a clamoro"s appealing to the mercy of the fire, In a mad e,post"lation with the deaf and frantic fire, -eaping higher, higher, higher, With a desperate desire, And a resol"te endeavor .ow - now to sit, or never, %y the side of the pale - faced moon' *h, the bells, bells, bells! What a tale their terror tells *f /espair! How they clang, and clash and roar! What a horror they o"tpo"r *n the bosom of the palpitating air! 0et the ear, it f"lly knows, %y the twanging, And the clanging, How the danger ebbs and flows; 0et the ear distinctly tells, In the &angling,

And the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells, %y the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells *f the bells *f the bells, bells, bells, bells, %ells, bells, bells In the clamor and the clanging of the bells! I1 Hear the tolling of the bells Iron bells! What a world of solemn tho"ght their monody compels! In the silence of the night, How we shiver with affright At the melancholy menace of their tone! $or every so"nd that floats $rom the r"st within their throats Is a groan' And the people - ah, the people #hey that dwell "p in the steeple, All alone, And who, tolling, tolling, tolling, In that m"ffled monotone, $eel a glory in so rolling *n the h"man heart a stone #hey are neither man nor woman #hey are neither br"te nor h"man #hey are (ho"ls2 And their king it is who tolls2 And he rolls, rolls, rolls, !olls A paean from the bells! And his merry bosom swells With the paean of the bells!

And he dances, and he yells; eeping time, time, time, In a sort of !"nic rhyme, #o the paean of the bells2 *f the bells2 eeping time, time, time In a sort of !"nic rhyme, #o the throbbing of the bells *f the bells, bells, bells2 #o the sobbing of the bells2 eeping time, time, time, As he knells, knells, knells, In a happy !"nic rhyme, #o the rolling of the bells *f the bells, bells, bells #o the tolling of the bells *f the bells, bells, bells, bells, %ells, bells, bells, #o the moaning and the groaning of the bells'