Ring out! Ring in!

Bell donated by Charles Ingalls, Walnut Grove, Minnesota

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow;

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife,

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweet manners, purer laws.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

~Alfred Tennyson

Despite my thinking the last line is off (among others), I have always enjoyed this poem. I love the tolling mimicry as the bell swings gently, out and in, back and forth, the old and the new.

As this year comes to a close, I have little time to reflect at all on the past one. No resolutions to make. No new goals or desires. No time to add my own "Ring out" and "Ring in" to Mr. Tennyson's poem.

Here's a little more of Tennyson, Beatles-style!



~End Quote