Independence Bell - Author Unknown

Independence Bell – Author Unknown

There was a tumult in the city

In the quaint old Quaker town,

And the streets were rife with people

Pacing restless up and down-

People gathering at corners,

Where they whispered each to each,

And the sweat stood on their temples

With the earnestness of speech.

 

So they surged against the State House,

While all solemnly inside,

Sat the Continental Congress,

Truth and reason for their guide,

O’er simple scroll debating,

Which, though simple it might be,

Yet should shake the cliffs of England

With the thunders of the free.

 

Hushed the people’s swelling murmur,

Whilst the boy cries joyously;

“Ring!” he shouts, “Ring! Grandpapa,

Ring! Oh, ring for Liberty!”

Quickly, at the given signal

The old bellman lifts his hand,

Forth he sends the good news, making

Iron music through the land.

 

That old State House bell is silent,

Hushed is now its clamorous tongue;

But the spirit it awakened

Still is living-ever young;

And when we greet the smiling sunlight

On the fourth of each July,

We will ne’er forget the bellmen

Who, betwixt the earth and sky,

Rung out, loudly, “Independence”;

Which, please God, shall never die!

 

About these ads