I heard the bells at midnight Ring in the dawning year; And above the clanging chorus Of the song, I seemed to hear
A choir of mystic voices Flinging echoes, ringing clear, From a band of angels winging Through the haunted atmosphere:
“Ring out the shame and sorrow, And the misery and sin, That the dawning of the morrow May in peace be ushered in.”
And I thought of all the trials The departed years had cost, And the blooming hopes and pleasures That are withered now and lost;
And with joy I drank the music Stealing o'er the feeling there As the spirit song came pealing On the silence everywhere:
“Ring out the shame and sorrow, And the misery and sin, That the dawning of the morrow May in peace be ushered in.”
And I listened as a lover To an utterance that flows In syllables like dewdrops From the red lips of a rose,
Till the anthem, fainter growing, Climbing higher, chiming on Up the rounds of happy rhyming, Slowly vanished in the dawn:
“Ring out the shame and sorrow, And the misery and sin, That the dawning of the morrow May in peace be ushered in.”
Then I raised my eyes to Heaven, And with trembling lips I pled For a blessing for the living And a pardon for the dead;
And like a ghost of music Slowly whispered — lowly sung — Came the echo pure and holy In the happy angel tongue:
“Ring out the shame and sorrow, And the misery and sin, And the dawn of every morrow Will in peace be ushered in.”
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