Sweet bell of Stratford, tolling slow, In summer gloaming’s golden glow, I hear and feel thy voice divine, And all my soul responds to thine. As now I hear thee, even so, My Shakespeare heard thee long ago, When lone by Avon’s pensive stream He wandered, in his haunted dream: Heard thee—and far his fancy sped Through spectral caverns of the dead, And strove—and strove in vain—to pierce The secret of the universe. As now thou mournest didst thou mourn On that sad day when he was borne Through the green aisle of honied limes, To rest beneath the chambered chimes. He heard thee not, nor cared to hear! Another voice was in his ear, And, freed from all the bonds of men, He knew the awful secret then. Sweet bell of Stratford, toll, and be A sacred promise unto me Of that great hour when I shall know The path whereon his footsteps go. Stratford, 14 Sept. 1890.
The Passing Bell at Stratford
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