In Memoriam 

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson




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 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 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 a slowly dying cause,

  And ancient forms of party strife;

  Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.



Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

  The faithless coldness of the times;

  Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes

But ring the fuller minstrel in.



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 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.



By Alfred, Lord Tennyson