The Chimes of England.

CHIMES, the chimes of Motherland,
  Of England green and old,
That out from fame and ivied tower
  A thousand years have tolled;
How glorious must their music be
  As breaks the hallowed day
And calleth with a seraph's voice
  A nation up to pray!

II.

Those chimes that tell a thousand tales,
  Sweet tales of olden time;
And ring a thousand memories
  At vesper, and at at prime!
At bridal and at burial,
  For cottager and king,
Those chimes--those glorious Christian chimes,
  How blessedly they ring!

III.

Those chimes, those chimes of Motherland,
  Upon a Christmas morn,
Outbreaking as the angels did,
  For a Redeemer born:
How merrily they call afar,
  To cot and baron's hall,
With holly decked and mistletoe,
  To keep the festival!

IV.

The chimes of England, how they peal
  From tower and gothic pile,
Where hymn and swelling anthem fill
  The dim cathedral aisle;
Where windows bathe the holy light
  On priestly head that falls,
And stain the florid tracery
  Of banner-deighted walls!

V.

And then, those Easter bells in Spring,
  Those glorious Easter chimes!
How loyally they hail thee round,
  Old Queen of holy times!
From hill to hill, like sentinels,
  Responsively they cry,
And sing the rising of the LORD,
  From vale to mountain high.

VI.

I love ye--chimes of Motherland,
  Wiith all this soul of mine,
And bless the Lord that I am sprung
  Of good old English line:
And like a son I sing the lay
  That England's glory tells;
For she is lovely to the LORD,
  For you, ye Christian bells!

VII.

And heir of all her olden fame,
  Though far away my birth,
Thee too I love, my Forest-land,
  The joy of all the earth;
For thine thy mother's voice shall be,
  And here--where GOD is King,
With English chimes, from Christian spires,
  The wilderness shall ring.

Project Canterbury