Flowers of Evil

<h3><SPAN name="The_Broken_Bell" id="The_Broken_Bell"></SPAN>The Broken Bell</h3> <p class="margin-b"> How sweet and bitter, on a winter night,<br/> Beside the palpitating fire to list,<br/> As, slowly, distant memories alight,<br/> To sounds of chimes that sing across the mist.<br/> <br/> Oh, happy is that bell with hearty throat,<br/> Which neither age nor time can e'er defeat,<br/> Which faithfully uplifts its pious note,<br/> Like an agèd soldier on his beat.<br/> <br/> For me, my soul is cracked, and 'mid her cares,<br/> Would often fill with her songs the midnight airs<br/> And oft it chances that her feeble moan<br/> <br/> Is like the wounded warrior's fainting groan,<br/> Who by a lake of blood, 'neath bodies slain,<br/> In anguish falls, and never moves again.<br/></p> <hr style="width: 35%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />