The Bells

ILLUSTRATION // BELL TOWER OF SAINT JOHN’S SAVANNAH // ADAM BOND

Inspired by Thomas Merton’s Thoughts in Solitude I. 16.

The bells, the ringing bells invade and they
Refuse to be ignored. And in that they
Refuse to be ignored they shake us out
Of self-pre-occupation; so they serve —
By their demanding that we stop and heed —
They serve but to recall us to the fact
That all of this does not belong to us.
Persistently, obnoxiously they ring,
And whether we would wish to hear or not,
The bells will keep insisting like the Creed
They keep repeating day and night beneath
The bells whose ringing called us there — the ones
Who there beneath the clanging bells have come
To kneel and keep insisting, “I believe...”,
To sing and keep on singing, “Glory be...”.
So bells, a keen observer said, are meant
To break upon our scrambling and say:
“All this shall pass away. Be still and know...”