The Sobbing of the Bells

"The Sobbing of the Bells" is the eighth and final song of Ernst Bacon's song cycle Songs at Parting: A Selection of Poems by Walt Whitman.

Date: 1930Composer: Ernst BaconText: Walt WhitmanSong Collection: Songs at Parting

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Text

The Sobbing of the Bells
[Midnight, Sept. 19-20, 1881]
by Walt Whitman

The sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news everywhere,
The slumberers rouse, the rapport of the People,
(Full well they know that message in the darkness,
Full well return, respond within their breasts, their brains, the
sad reverberations,)
The passionate toll and clang–city to city, joining, sounding, passing,
Those heart-beats of a Nation in the night.

Sheet Music

Songs at Parting

Composer(s): Ernst Bacon

Song(s): 1. Grand is the Seen
2. The Last Invocation
3. Darest Thou Now, O Soul
4. Twilight
5. One Thought Ever at the Fore
6. Joy, Shipmate, Joy!
7. Whispers of Heavenly Death
8. The Sobbing of the Bells

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