After four years of Civil War, the United States was weary of burying her dead. By 1865, no American was left untouched by the ravages of the conflict. Death and mourning permeated the national psyche and slithered into the era’s artistic output. Loss had become routine. It was in this milieu that William Dexter Smith, Jr., a notable journalist, music publisher, and poet of his age, set pen to paper.
His work “Ring the Bell Softly” is a tender elegy that reflects on this collective experience of loss. Written in simple, lyrical lines, the poem calls for the tolling of a funeral bell – not with violence or clamor, but softly, reverently, as a final tribute to a life that has passed. Its refrain captures the quiet solemnity of a community gathered in grief, balancing sorrow with a gentle sense of peace. And yet, the repetition in his verse creates a sense of perfunctory obligation. Are we ringing the bells softly for a dignified remembrance, or because we've heard them all too often of late? Perhaps, dear citizen, both may be true.
Image: Portrait photograph of William Dexter Smith, Jr. (1839-1909).
"Ring the Bell Softly"
William Dexter Smith, Jr.
Someone has gone from this strange world of ours,
No more to gather its thorns with its flow'rs,
No more to linger where sunbeams must fade
Where, on all beauty, death's fingers are laid;
Weary with mingling life's bitter and sweet,
Weary with parting and never to meet,
Someone has gone to the bright, golden shore.
Ring the bell softly, there's crape on the door.
Someone is resting from sorrow and sin,
Happy where earth's conflicts enter not in,
Joyous as birds when the morning is bright,
When the sweet sunbeams have brought us their light,
Weary with sowing and never to reap,
Weary with labour and welcoming sleep,
Someone's departed to Heaven's glad shore.
Ring the bell softly, there's crape on the door.
Angels were anxiously longing to meet,
One who walks with them in Heaven's bright street,
Loved ones have whisper'd that someone is blest,
Free from earth's trials, and taking sweet rest,
Yes! there is one more in angelic bliss,
One less to cherish, and one less to kiss,
One more departed to Heaven's bright shore.
Ring the bell softly, there's crape on the door.
Cover image: A bell and clock tower rises above the Knox County Courthouse and Civil War Memorial in downtown Vincennes, Indiana, at sunrise.
