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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  677. The Bells of Shandon

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Francis Mahony. 1805–1866

677. The Bells of Shandon

WITH deep affection, 
And recollection, 
I often think of 
  Those Shandon bells, 
Whose sounds so wild would,         5
In the days of childhood, 
Fling around my cradle 
  Their magic spells. 
On this I ponder 
Where’er I wander,  10
And thus grow fonder, 
  Sweet Cork, of thee; 
With thy bells of Shandon, 
That sound so grand on 
The pleasant waters  15
  Of the River Lee. 
 
I’ve heard bells chiming 
Full many a clime in, 
Tolling sublime in 
  Cathedral shrine,  20
While at a glib rate 
Brass tongues would vibrate— 
But all their music 
  Spoke naught like thine; 
For memory, dwelling  25
On each proud swelling 
Of the belfry knelling 
  Its bold notes free, 
Made the bells of Shandon 
Sound far more grand on  30
The pleasant waters 
  Of the River Lee. 
 
I’ve heard bells tolling 
Old Adrian’s Mole in, 
Their thunder rolling  35
  From the Vatican, 
And cymbals glorious 
Swinging uproarious 
In the gorgeous turrets 
  Of Notre Dame;  40
But thy sounds were sweeter 
Than the dome of Peter 
Flings o’er the Tiber, 
  Pealing solemnly— 
O, the bells of Shandon  45
Sound far more grand on 
The pleasant waters 
  Of the River Lee. 
 
There ‘s a bell in Moscow, 
While on tower and kiosk O!  50
In Saint Sophia 
  The Turkman gets, 
And loud in air 
Calls men to prayer 
From the tapering summits  55
  Of tall minarets. 
Such empty phantom 
I freely grant them; 
But there ‘s an anthem 
  More dear to me,—  60
‘Tis the bells of Shandon, 
That sound so grand on 
The pleasant waters 
  Of the River Lee.