RING OUT, WILD BELLS

 

                RING OUT, WILD BELLS

On this new year’s eve, let us sing with English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892):

Ring out wild bells, to the wild sky…

 

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

 

Ring out the grief that saps the mind

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

 

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws

…………………………………………………..

            The stanzas given above don’t make the whole poem, but they are as relevant today as they were long ago when the poem was published in 1850 and Tennyson as made Poet Laureate.

           

            The following stanza may also be added because of its eternal relevance:

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

31^st December 2023                

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