A New Year dream.
In my neighborhood you can hear the Cornell University chimes playing melodies from the clock tower, echoing through the neighborhood now and then. I didn’t specifically hear them playing Auld Lang Syne at midnight this year. I did sing that with old friends though.
lyrics
i have heard this bell tolling
its ancient song rolling
down hills and through homes
that belonged to my friends
it accompanied them
these good women and men
but it will not sing that song again
because its clapper is gone and its body is rust
and the tower that held it has tumbled to dust
will its song still be sung, or now will it just
be a memory that lingers on?
if this bell is our freedom
and songs are our voices
and the tower’s our town
and our lives are our choices
then who will remember
these people and days
when the dust has been scattered
and the songs have no names?
now i hear that bell ringing
its song is what’s bringing
me back to this now and this here
and these friends are still singing
a song that’s still ringing
out strong for at least one more year
through all that we hope and we fear
it’s ringing if we are still here
parts
tjw: guitar, vocals, bass uke, sampled tubular bells
image: Kritzolina
