II. Hear the mellow wedding bells Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells ! 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! Oh, 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! 15 20 25 30 35 The text printed in the Union Magazine for December, 1849, inasmuch as it differs radically from the final text, is given here in its entirety: What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! How they scream out their affright! They can only shriek, shriek, Out of tune, In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, Leaping higher, higher, higher, With a desperate desire, 40 45 In the jangling And the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells — 65 Of the bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells In the clamor and the clangor of the bells! IV. Hear the tolling of the bells Iron bells! What a world of solemn thought their monody compels ! In the silence of the night, How we shiver with affright 70 Of the bells, bells, bells To the sobbing of the bells; As he knells, knells, knells, To the rolling of the bells Of the bells, bells, bells: To the tolling of the bells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, To the moaning and the groaning of the bells. TO HELEN I saw thee once once only years ago: (1849) It was a July midnight; and from out I must not say how many - but not many. A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring, Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe 10 By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence. Clad all in white, upon a violet bank I saw thee half reclining; while the moon Title To (U.M., P.P.A.). 5 precipitate: precipitant (U.M.). 18 saw see (U.M.). Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses, Was it not Fate that, on this July midnight 20 25 30 The mossy banks and the meandering paths, The happy flowers and the repining trees, Were seen no more: the very roses' odors 35 All all expired save thee save less than thou: Save only the divine light in thine eyes Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes. I saw but them I saw but them they were the world to me. saw only them for hours Saw only them until the moon went down. 40 What wild heart-histories seemed to lie enwritten How dark a wo! yet how sublime a hope! How silently serene a sea of pride! 45 How daring an ambition! yet how deep – How fathomless a capacity for love! But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight, 26-28 U. M. and P.P.A. omit the second half of line 26, all of line 27, and the first half of line 28. |