Sweet church bell sounding solemnly !

Sweet church bell sounding solemnly!
What warnings thou dost give!
The living, — they must surely die,
The dying, — they may live.
Thou to the meditative mind
A memory dost prove,
Of pleasant scenes we leave behind
And solemn scenes above.

Thy voice doth tell of tearfulness,
Of partings, and farewells, —
And yet a chime of cheerfulness
In all its music dwells:
The knell of dying joys it tolls
To dying mortals given,
It rings its welcome peal for souls
Into the gates of Heaven.

We hear thee in the busy mart,
We hear thee in the field,
We hear thee when the human heart
To tenderness doth yield:
When life is fresh, and home is fair,
And young eyes beam around,
Thou comest through the evening air
A profitable sound.

Thou bidst us use the pleasures which
God gives us to enjoy,
As most uncertain treasures, which
A moment may destroy;
And Christians do not love thee less,
Because thy homeward sigh
Calls them from dreams which seem to bless
To bliss itself on high.