"tintinnabulation" poems
I.
Hear the sledges with the bells—
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they ****** ****** ******
In their icy air of night!
While the stars, that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
II.
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten golden-notes,
And all in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!
III.
Hear the loud alarum bells—
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor
Now—now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the ***** of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells—
Of the bells—
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!
IV.
Hear the tolling of the bells—
Iron bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people—ah, the people—
They that dwell up in the steeple.
All alone,
And who toiling, toiling, toiling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone—
They are neither man nor woman—
They are neither brute nor human—
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry ***** swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells—
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells—
Of the bells, bells, bells—
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells—
Of the bells, bells, bells—
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
10.5k
A Woman of Many Words
I am a Woman of Many Words
I am drawn to all those places
That words congregate:
Libraries and bookstores
Road signs and billboards
Ticket stubs and subtitles
Nametags and license plates
Each one a journey driving inside me
I am a Woman of Many Words
I love the way the shapes feel in my mouth
The skittle taste of syllables
I am drawn to especially long words
With their phonetic entities stretching out like tentacles to reach new corners of pronunciation
Words like
Bibliophile and flippant-irreverence
Evanescent and Insouciance
Mellifluous and Effervescent
Mondegreen and Labyrinthine
Words like
Onomatopoeia and Tintinnabulation
I appreciate their weight on my tongue
The way my hands appreciate the thickness that is a fat book
I am a Woman of Many Words
I am attracted to their multitude
The space their figures take up on a page
The calligraphic punches
Typed up by keys
The carefully constructed
Brush strokes
Spouting
What is sure to be, nonsense
But I do enjoy the sound of nonsense in the morning
I am a Woman of Many Words
I cling to the lettered skyscrapers wherever I can find them
Because the familiar scent of scribbles across parchment is comfort food for me
I find them
On the backs of cereal boxes
And in Popsicle riddles
In fortune cookies
And alphabet soup
From magnets on my fridge
To junk food logos
And I hold on to them for dear life
For fear that silence should find me
And leave me empty
For fear it will take away the music of maracas
Made by words
Dancing the salsa inside me
I am a Woman of Many Words
because Words
Answer my Questions,
Soothe my fears,
and Humor my Whims
They are not always Right
But they are always Constant
They are not always Honest, in fact,
Mostly
They Lie
But ever so often
They tell such a Beautiful Lie
That you wish it were true
They sing from the rocks
offering Escape from
Terrifying,
Suffocating,
Mind numbing Silence
that echoes off my skeleton
I am afraid that silence will hollow out my insides
and leave me abandoned
with nothing between my Bow and Stern
my Forecastle all torn up
I am afraid of the skeleton inside me
So I am a Woman of Many of Words
For fear of silence
And contempt for truth
Because my words are sirens
And my shipwreck is home here
Nov 10, 2015
Nov 10, 2015 at 5:12 PM UTC
I'd like to hear a flower
Take its golden shower
When first sunbeam stops
To illuminate dew drops
I bet it sounds sweet
clear like a bells' beat
Ringing soft and pure
Euphoric and demure
Apr 15, 2015
Apr 15, 2015 at 1:49 AM UTC
It's alienation across the nation.
End of the break
the whistle's blowing
The sailors going only a short way
to heavens
Subterranean souls, yet
extraterrestrial minds
(I want to have a magnificent, celestial time)
Someone is dead
True, someone might be
curled in dread, somewhere
But the staff chooses not to
voice these concerns
to their guests
They-are-all
transported
to a place where their veins
don't show up blue
under that black light, yellow
dans-le-ciel
It's a dalliance for souls
(They are all lost.)
A denouement for souls
(How much does it cost?)
Better question,
who sends them here
(Every zephyr is cold)
who sends them here
to die and behold?
If I had a friend
they would ask,
"Why so alone?"
Because I move with the
Tintinnabulation across the nation.
People saying the most
cringe-worthy---
Like the nation
I fear I have become
an imbrication
repeating myself in every
application
Working on that steamboat
the-band-wagon
isn't as good as it gets
Saccharine, summery lake
Do we, perhaps, need to escape?
And, perhaps, we can.
Dominated as we are
by Society, who is crying in need
Believes we must be a
panoply!
Apr 1, 2015
Apr 1, 2015 at 4:34 PM UTC
the astrologer within
has made a prediction....
this heart has about
a billion beats left
so dance Kali
dance
fully dressed
or naked
not in the amphitheaters of Rome
but over my corpse
in the ghats of Manikarnika
where my cremated ashes
will be dissolved
in that same river
you so heartlessly condemned me to
as you cut a rug in ecstasy
with bloodied eyes,
forget not that
this body of mine was your theater
my eyes, the showcase lights
my in and outgoing breath
the music of the orchestra,
my heartbeat
the tintinnabulation of your anklets
the candle of love
that i lit and housed
within me
kept your id and ego
in perfect balance
this candle is fast melting
but it’s my tears
which now run like a river
that will remain forever
this show is closer to its end....
the sound that you now hear
which fill the moribund skies
emanate from the cosmic drum
which beats louder and louder
©2019
Jul 20, 2019
Jul 20, 2019 at 11:20 AM UTC
The breeze in the air is redolent
And the heart gambols with glee
To the tintinnabulation of wind chimes
Ah, what sweet felicity.
The whispering of trees is mellifluous
As is the susurrous of floral woods
How salubrious is the efflorescence
Beside the ebullient babbling brook.
Old man winter is but fugacious
For I've stumbled upon my inglenook
I wake to the breath of spring
Oh, it's summer eternal in my book.
My cup now holds ethereal elixir
It's manna from the heavens above
I found you - ah, serendipity
If this isn't, then what is love?
Jan 3, 2018
Jan 3, 2018 at 10:29 AM UTC
Its name has a warm ring
yet is the coldest place on earth,
so cold, moisture freezes inside the nose.
A mere sneeze can project a spray of silvery crystals
scattering like stardust.
No tintinnabulation sweetens the ears.
Sound falls dead like a grounded lark.
Conversation has an icy chill.
Life here exists with no excuses.
Slippery slopes bear no blame for
never reaching your destination.
Brutally bound to the flake white canvas,
existence is forceably cohesive.
And if you ever chance your arm to quit,
a valedictory shake of the hand
will leave you in the grip of winter.
(There will be no husky rescue)
copyright © Caroline Grace 2011
.
Sep 21, 2011
Sep 21, 2011 at 8:57 AM UTC
In the darkest of our valleys
By dark angels demented,
‘Twas once a regal temple -
Serene spring - tauntingly tormented.
A Queen in her Domain,
It stood there!
Under Lock and Chain;
A maiden so fair!
Lavender curtains laden;
On this Temple may flow
Along the Times of this Maiden -
In the ****** snow.
And every gentle air in that field,
Of Doomsday,
From the Black Rose’s shield -
Their aroma passed away.
Witnessing this Ominous blolly;
Through luminous windows -
Spirits sing in melancholy,
In the malicious meadows.
Upon this throne I bore;
A tintinnabulation of air -
Befitting glory’s chore,
Of this realm’s affair.
With many a jewel gleaming,
Against the Temple door -
The River’s light came beaming,
Sparkling for evermore.
A troop of Angels; on their duty,
At my doorbell, sing -
For the Silent beauty,
Who burdens the King.
Then, the Reaper came,
Along the Temple’s River -
For the distressed dame;
And the sorrows within her quiver.
Above this temple of glory,
Sagacious scenes bloomed -
Of the maiden’s story,
The clergy that loomed.
Now; Within that valley -
Through the reddened windows see,
Figures dancing delicately;
To her disbanded melody.
The river - now a pale white,
Is her decor,
Night’s sweetest silent fright -
And flows - Nevermore.
Dec 14, 2015
Dec 14, 2015 at 4:13 PM UTC
"we are the papillons" we say.
we march and prance
about in and about out
these shadows of the great oaks.
they look at us sternly, concerned.
but we smile,
these teeth as my
silver hair touches the bottom of the blue ocean.
I watch your
searching eyes find the neon starfish and
my
green sequins glisten amongst the corals.
yet I can never just know you just yet
as we dance here screaming
"we are the papillons!"
blobs of purple glitter surround the dance floor
and the tintinnabulation rings in my ears
only a millisecond later.
hold my hand then
and lead me across these explosions in the sky
to take another breath, holding me in this haze of smoke.
tommorow-day just doesn't matter
when the papillons flutter here.
Jan 16, 2012
Jan 16, 2012 at 5:18 PM UTC
Ringing of raindrops on a tin rooftop
Tintinnabulation, wrapped up in lightning storm vibrations
A fickle thing-be it friend or foe?
Until I'm wet I never know.
Is it the rain that changes?
Or is it me?
Is it the cage that cages Captured wings?
Or is it the bird inside who has forgotten How to sing?
May 6, 2016
May 6, 2016 at 2:55 AM UTC
A SUMMER day's grace for thee,
At the sublimity of dawn!
Melancholy melodies - tintinnabulation;
Of the dew upon the grave's lawn.
For thee to gleam, I'll flood the stream -
And let it runneth o'er;
Prithee me, Chivalry!
Drown it - ah, forevermore!
Dec 21, 2015
Dec 21, 2015 at 12:24 AM UTC
How is it that
after all of this
I still find myself dreaming
that you would come back?
Perhaps if I looked
like your tamed beauty
you would have stayed
here with me.
Hiraeth creeps up on you
once more
and lulls you to sleep
with tears in your eyes.
And in your dreams
you are once again
in the land you loved
so dearly.
And you see me,
the ingénue who
you loved
more than anything
The faeries sing
their melodic tintinnabulation.
This inexplicable moment
has gifted the mute with voices
The rain has ended.
The storm has passed.
And the world is new,
coated with petrichor.
And I wonder
if you’ll join me,
and I wonder if you also think
that you and I are sempiternal.
With you and me
here in the woods,
would you agree
to one last dance?
I would hold on tight
and refuse to let you go.
I won’t ever let
that happen again.
But then you would inevitably wake
with that dainty beauty beside you,
with wrinkles on your fingers,
and with a wringing in your heart.
And when morning comes
you will arise from your tear-stained bed
and remind yourself
that you can never come back.
Do you regret leaving me?
But I would die happily
if I were able
to live that ineffable moment
with you.
Dec 19, 2019
Dec 19, 2019 at 6:59 PM UTC
Of chapel bells
and after day’s dry summer wind
chimes angelic chorus
hangs in lasting configuration
My father’s rye-grass covered hills
tremble with a breeze keeper’s song
as he gathers up his grief
Mother folds away her weeping
folds away her dreams
until they are still
Mourners will soon move to chapel
to offer compassion
and glances from a distance
My brother
born yesterday, took no breath
from summer’s day
sang no breeze keeper’s song,
felt no dry summer’s wind,
yet heard
the farewell of bells
and dwelt there
harmonic
in tintinnabulation
Oct 4, 2014
Oct 4, 2014 at 7:50 AM UTC
If you stand strongly with and for Liberty
I will fearlessly join you
If you stand firmly for Freedom
I will cheer the noble gestures of your kingdom
If you stand enthusiastically for Equality
I will ecstatically stand with you too
If you stand for good democracy
I will help you spread the seeds of Love
I will happily clap when the doves are hovering above
If you stand solidly for fair and equal justice
I will help you ring the bells of peace
I will fervently pray for you all the time
I will sporadically listen to the tintinnabulation of the chime
Brothers and sisters, I have tears of hope in my eyes today
Otherwise
My pen is able and ready amidst the fray
And it won’t be so wise
Because I love my fellow human beings, our people
Who are black, red, white, yellow and purple.
P.S. This poem is dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and to our brothers and sisters.
Copyright © January 2025, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved.
Hébert Logerie is the author of several collections of poems.
Jan 21, 2025
Jan 21, 2025 at 2:47 PM UTC
Half moon high
In a deep navy sky
The clouds like spider cotton
Blue ivory husks
Umber grey claws / webs
The deepening dusk
In the navy sky
The streets a flood a river of orbs
Armada of effulgence / suns
Headlights
Streaming pass
Crisp neon plaza shores
Cartoon sharp signage
Accessorizing concrete
Floors
The evening is dressed fine eyes smyzing
Shadows floating to be forgotten
While down the road
Neighborhood way
Skitters Liliput creatures
In shells of costumes
As squeals of laughter festoons
Live tintinnabulation
Like rattlers against the dark
As they Scurry cross dim / spatial street
In demand of what is given
From each and every door
Treat and sweets
All their tricks cached in grins
Of teeth.
All Hallows' Eve
Hallowed be the glee
Even tho' beneathe
The web of grey
Life is precious / breathing
Fear forgotten with dismay
We should live in celebration
Childlike everyday
Our wonder
As rattlers against the dark
behind the masks of face
In our eyes there is
The spark
That lights all life
From wastes of
Hollow wind
Chilling cries bleeding
Undead the unseen
From this cirque city
All done up in bright disguise
Happy Halloween
Death as one with life...
Sep 25, 2016
Sep 25, 2016 at 4:06 PM UTC
Chocolate drips from her eyelids. At
Sixteen, she dreamed for a galaxy
and the stars above twinkled as if to
comfort a dying wish.
Your tears are beautiful to us, they said. The knife
that cuts your skin is made of crystal. Write.
Write and weave your pain into
silk, tintinnabulation, a song
for the linguists.
Turn it into Beethoven’s 9th Symphony,
for that is the only reason you are here.
Oct 22, 2013
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:07 PM UTC
The gunpowder smoke burned
and stung my sight,
as the vibrations shuddered
and rattled the room.
The bullets flew
in deafening sound
like death-drums.
Holes appeared like eyes in the dark,
staring at unaware prey.
Spouting red essence in rhythm
with heart beats.
And I stood,
praying for silence
with my ears ringing.
May 18, 2015
May 18, 2015 at 9:42 PM UTC
How oft has the piping poet iterated
the many nuances of feeling,
the many ways to love, or hate?
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
But where in these enumerations
have we distinguished the longing
that boils up within us
at an absence, the missing,
whether momentary or eternal?
For there are many ways to miss someone.
There are, of course, the dreary ways
to miss someone, the ways
of grief, the yearning never to be fulfilled
for the departed and never to be seen again.
The moving on because you must
and still like ringing bells
the memories perpetually toll -
at first so loud as to obscure any sound
or thought, yet eventually
fading to a distant chime, ever still present,
lingering tintinnabulation;
if you stop and listen, you can make it out,
but day-to-day you’d hardly notice.
But there are many ways to miss someone,
like subtle shades of purple:
while some are dark, oozing, sickly,
violent, like bruises,
blood pooling just beneath the surface
threatening to burst;
or some are near-grey, cold, desaturated,
a sensationless day,
a gloomy cloud in our sky;
others would induce with their very sight
the soft scents of violets and lilac,
the songs of spring birds chirping;
and others still are rich and royal,
thick like honey, endowed,
velvet sheen, lustrous silk.
Yes, there are many ways to miss someone.
Like craving the crunch of an apple,
or the tingling acidity of citrus.
Like the thirst before the first gulp,
lemon water warmed beneath the sweltering sun.
Or like how dusk to dawn deprives us of that very sun,
and yet so soon will it return,
crying out a yellow hello into the night blue sky.
There are many ways to miss someone.
Like the budding excitement,
the cocooned caterpillar,
the anticipation of soon-coming,
daydreaming, enriching, sweet, joyful,
delayed gratification.
There are many ways to miss someone.
And when you finally bite into the fruit of your longing
the juices seep into all the cracks and crevices
of all the moments past of absence,
fill you, elate you, concentrated,
and you ask yourself
was an orange always so sweet
or the lemon so sour as this?
May 5, 2020
May 5, 2020 at 11:16 AM UTC
Your phone makes a pretty
Twinkling sound.
You know its your mother,
But you don't reply.
Rather, you jump off of the stool.
Mar 27, 2018
Mar 27, 2018 at 2:45 PM UTC
Don't do it.
Don't do it.
Man, don't do it.
Many men if honest would have to admit that your friends warned you.
Not to get marry.
Oh, they give you various reasons.
Edited down truth among horror stories.
Except you wasn't listening.
Love directed you to propose.
And now here you are walking down the isle.
To the ringing of the crowd.
"Here Come The Bride" and the tintinnabulation in the back ground.
And through it all, you're wearing a smile.
Love have caught you.
Love have taught you.
You claim the one you love.
Aug 14, 2014
Aug 14, 2014 at 9:40 AM UTC