A Reed by the River/The Bow-Brick Bells

by Virginia Woodward Cloud

THE BOW-BRICK BELLS (To L. R. C.)

I heard the bells of Bow-Brick Hill a-ringing out so clearly,I heard the bells of Bow-Brick Hill all in the morning early;They rang so far, they rang so near, they called the loitering lassesTheir notes swept high across the sky and swept the meadow grasses;

O blithesome bells of Bow-Brick Hill!—The world to work was hieing,While in and out and all about the meadow larks came flying,While here and there and everywhere a brier bloom was smilingWith bird and bee and hedge and tree the sweet of year beguiling.

I heard the bells of Bow-Brick Hill all in the soft dusk fleeting,When home again by hedge and lane came each one with his sweeting;Round ivied wall and chimnies tall the swallows black were flying,And hushed across a dimming world, the Bow-Brick Bells were dying.

The tender bells, the thrilling bells,—o'er reedy marsh and meadowThey swept the day a long caress and sung it into shadow,Till through the tower, through the dusk and through the heart came creepingThe echo of the Bow-Brick Bells that crooned a world to sleeping.