Southampton Bells

I     Long ago some builder thrust     Heavenward in Southampton town     His spire and beamed his bells,     Largely conceiving from the dust     That pinnacle for ringing down     Orisons and Nols.     In his imagination rang,     Through generations challenging     His peal on simple men,     Who, as the heart within him sang,     In daily townfaring should sing     By year and year again.     II     Now often to their ringing go     The bellmen with lean Time at heel,     Intent on daily cares;     The bells ring high, the bells ring low,     The ringers ring the builder's peal     Of tidings unawares.     And all the bells might well be dumb     For any quickening in the street     Of customary ears;     And so at last proud builders come     With dreams and virtues to defeat     Among the clouding years.     III     Now, waiting on Southampton sea     For exile, through the silver night     I hear Nol! Nol!     Through generations down to me     Your challenge, builder, comes aright,     Bell by obedient bell.     You wake an hour with me; then wide     Though be the lapses of your sleep     You yet shall wake again;     And thus, old builder, on the tide     Of immortality you keep     Your way from brain to brain.