Hear the loud alarum bells —

                Brazen bells!

What a tale of terror, now their turbulency tells!

        In the startled ear of Night

        How they scream out their affright!

                Too much horrified to speak,

                They can only shriek, shriek,

                        Out of tune,

In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire —

In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,

        Leaping higher, higher, higher,

        With a desperate desire

        And a resolute endeavor

        Now – now to sit, or never,

By the side of the pale-faced moon.

                Oh, the bells, bells, bells!

                What a tale their terror tells

                        Of despair!

        How they clang and clash and roar!

        What a horror they outpour

        In the bosom of the palpitating air!

                Yet the ear, it fully knows,

                        By the twanging

                        And the clanging,

                How the danger ebbs and flows: —

        Yes, the ear distinctly tells,

                        In the jangling

                        And the wrangling,

        How the danger sinks and swells,

By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells —

                        Of the bells —

        Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,

                        Bells, bells, bells —

        In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!