Poems (Dorr)/Midnight Chimes
MIDNIGHT CHIMES
Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Down yon lonely heightHear the joyous summons pealing Through the starry night.Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Ring the Christmas bells;From the church-tower on the hill Clear the music swells.
Far and near the listening mountains Bend to catch the strain,Dome, and peak, and shadowy fastness Join the glad refrain,—Noel! Noel! All the pine-trees Feel a subtile thrill,And the hemlock groves, responsive, Whisper and are still.
Noel! Noel! Through the valley Where the river goesIn and out between the meadows, Soft the music flows,And the river, dumbly sleeping, Feels its cold heart beatAnswering to the pulsing rhythm Of the anthem sweet.
Noel! Noel! Hark! a rustling On the frosty air,Where the aspens, all a-quiver, Bend their branches bare;Airy birches, stately maples, Black against the sky,Wave their leafless boughs like banners When a king goes by.
Noel! Noel! Sweet-breathed oxen, In the farm-yard close,Lift their horned heads to listen, Startled from repose;Then they sleep as slept the white flocks On Judea's hills,While again the olden glory Earth with rapture fills,
Noel! Noel! Little children In their soft nests smile,Dreaming of fair choiring angels Floating near the while;Voiceless snow-birds, half awakened, Stir their drowsy wingsWith, mayhap, a vague, unconscious Sense of heavenly things.
Noel! Noel! In the church-yard, Where the low graves lie,Light winds bear the strains melodious, Soft as spirit's sigh;Do ye hear it, O ye sleepers, As it dies and swells?Hear your ears the mystic music Of earth's Christmas bells?