Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Ring out Wild Bells

We used to live downtown in Salt Lake, by the Capitol. There was always some noise going on there that made you know there was stuff happening. Cars, dogs barking, our neighbors coming home late. We grew so accustomed to the sound of train whistles, we almost didn't notice them after a while. But if you tuned in and paid some attention, it was pleasant and reassuring to hear the purposeful distant sound of activity.
I also really enjoyed the ringing of the Bells. I don't know if the bells were from the Capitol or from some other place, but every once in a while we'd all be treated to a little clanging song from the Bells.
Now we live in an utterly quiet neighborhood. The winter nights are silent and cold. Barking dogs are not tolerated here-and is usually our own, and all our neighbors are in bed by 10:00 p.m.
I like our quiet neighborhood, but I still think about those bells and train whistles sometimes and miss them. Especially in the wee hours of the morning, and on New Years Day. Do they still play those Bells on New Years? Maybe there's a noise ordinance now that keeps them silent.
I hope not.
Maybe that's why I love that kind of strange song in the LDS Hymnal by Tennyson-"Ring Out Wild Bells" and hope that we'll get to sing it in church next week. It's not a well-known song-because it's old and really it only applies to the New Year, so the opportunity to sing it dosn't come up often enough to keep it well-remembered.

Ring out, wild bells,
to the 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 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 in the valiant men and free,
the larger heart,
the kindlier hand.
Ring out the darkness of the land;
Ring in the Christ that is to be.


My Kids like banging pots and pans, and screaming at the stroke of 12:00- to make a little dent in the silence of our street...and that's fun...but I hope that somewhere, someone will be ringing in the New Year with some wild bells.