Independence bell

[Shaarona]

INDEPENDENCE BELL

There was 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.

As the bleak Atlantic currents
Lash the wild Newfoundland shore,
So they beat against the State-House,
So they surged against the door;
And the mingling of their voices
Made a harmony profound,
Till the quiet street of Chestnut
Was all turbulent with sound.
**
“Will the do it?” “Dare they do it?”
“Who is speaking? “What’s the news?”
“What of Adams?” “What of Sherman?”
“Oh, God grant they won’t refuse?”
“Make some way there!” “Let me nearer!”
“I am stifling!” “Stifle, then!
When a nation’s life’s a hazard,
We’ve no time to think of men!”

So they beat against the portal,
Man and woman, maid and child;
And the July sun is heaven
On the scene looked down and smiled’
The same sun that saw the Spartan
Shed his patriot blood in vain,
Now beheld the soul of freedom
All unconquer’d rise again.
**
See! See! The dense crowd quivers,
Thru all its lengthy line,
As the boy beside the portal
Looks forth to give the sign!
With his little hand uplifted,
Breezes dallying with his hair.
Hark! with deep, clear intonation,
Breaks his young voice on the air.

Hushed the people’s swelling murmur,
List the boy’s exultant cry!
“Ring!” he shouts, “Ring! grandpa,
Ring! oh, ring for Liberty!”
Quickly at the given signal
The old bell-man lifts his hand,
Forth he sends the good news, making
Iron music thru the land.

How they shouted! What rejoicing!
How the old bell shook the air.
Till the clang of freedom ruffled
The calmly gliding Delaware!
How the bonfires and the torches
Lighted up the night’s repose,
And from the flames, like fabled Phoenix,
Our glorious Liberty arose!

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 bell-man
Who, betwixt the earth and sky,
Rung out, loudly, “Independence”
Which, please God, shall never die.

–Author Unknown


(from memory)

 

[Huey]

Oh so thats how it got that crack,a cracker rang it.