The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 3.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

Ring, O bells!
     Every stroke exulting tells
Of the burial hour of crime.
     Loud and long, that all may hear,
Ring for every listening ear
     Of Eternity and Time!

Let us kneel:
     God's own voice is in that peal,
And this spot is holy ground.
     Lord, forgive us! What are we,
That our eyes this glory see,
     That our ears have heard the sound!

For the Lord
     On the whirlwind is abroad;
In the earthquake He has spoken;
     He has smitten with His thunder
The iron walls asunder,
     And the gates of brass are broken!

Loud and long
     Lift the old exulting song;
Sing with Miriam by the sea,
     He has cast the mighty down;
Horse and rider sink and drown;
     ‘He hath triumphed gloriously!’

Did we dare,
     In our agony of prayer,