THE PRIEST CALLS THE NUN TO RING THE BELLS

                         Sarah, Sarah

                         Ring the bells, ring the bells.
                        I am dying and cannot patch the walls.
                        Ring the bells, ring the bells.
                        They are dying and the land is weary.

                        The sanctuary is hollow and empty;
                        The nave with its vacant pews lies jutted like a lizard.
                        The tower is hollow and blistered.
                        The bells are hollow and dull.
                        I hide in hollow walls,
                        My soul, like a clapper, pounds them thinner.

                        Sarah, Sarah,
                        Ring the bells so that I may remember
                        The eyes of youth turned toward the tower
                        To hear the bells;
                        Their tongues like clappers
                        Sang the Angelus and the Magnificat.
                        But they are old now and their head bent downward--
                        They see only dust and think of death,
                        And I, much older, am dying.

                         Sarah, ring the bells for me
                        This last day and take them down.
                        They are dying and I am dying,
                        And together we will rest;
                        They will be my gravestone silent with the daisies
                        Swaying in the breeze of dusk.
                        We will rest together.
                        My soul like a clapper
                        Bounced within my hollow walls
                        Will rest.

                         Ring the bells, ring the bells.
                         I am dying and cannot patch the walls.
                        Sarah, ring the bells
                        This last day.
                        The land is weary of us both.

                                                -- C.S. Cholas
                                            1971, Durango, Colorado