• I heard the bells of Bethlehem ring—
      Their voice was sweeter than the priests’;
    I heard the birds of Bethlehem sing
      Unbidden in the churchly feasts.

    They clung and sung on the swinging chain
      High in the dim and incensed air;
    The priests, with repetitions vain,
      Chanted a never-ending prayer.

    So bell and bird and priest...