{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/the-bells-of-malines",
 "title": "The Bells of Malines",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": "August 17, 1914",
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 114,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16229",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 60,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 42,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The gabled roofs of old Malines",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are russet red and gray and green,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And o’er them in the sunset hour",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Looms, dark and huge, St. Rombold’s tower.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "High in that rugged nest concealed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sweetest bells that ever pealed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The deepest bells that ever rung,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The lightest bells that ever sung,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are waiting for the master’s hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To fling their music o’er the land.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And shall they ring to-night, Malines?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In nineteen hundred and fourteen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The frightful year, the year of woe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When fire and blood and rapine flow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Across the land from lost Liège,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Storm-driven by the German rage?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The other carillons have ceased:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fallen is Hasselt, fallen Diest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From Ghent and Bruges no voices come,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Antwerp is silent, Brussels dumb!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But in thy belfry, O Malines,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The master of the bells unseen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has climbed to where the keyboard stands⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-night his heart is in his hands!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Once more, before invasion’s hell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Breaks round the tower he loves so well,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Once more he strikes the well-worn keys,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sends aerial harmonies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Far-floating through the twilight dim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In patriot song and holy hymn.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O listen, burghers of Malines!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Soldier and workman, pale bèguine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And mother with a trembling flock",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of children clinging to thy frock⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Look up and listen, listen all!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What tunes are these that gently fall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Around you like a benison?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The Flemish Lion,” “Brabançonne,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“O brave Liége,” and all the airs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That Belgium in her bosom bears.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Ring up, ye silvery octaves high,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose notes like circling swallows fly;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And ring, each old sonorous bell⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Jesu,” “Maria,” “Michaël!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Weave in and out, and high and low,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The magic music that you know,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And let it float and flutter down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To cheer the heart of the troubled town.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ring out, “Salvator,” lord of all⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Roland” in Ghent may hear thee call!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O brave bell-music of Malines,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In this dark hour how much you mean!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The dreadful night of blood and tears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sweeps down on Belgium, but she hears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Deep in her heart the melody",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of songs she learned when she was free.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She will not falter, faint, nor fail,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But fight until her rights prevail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all her ancient belfries ring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The Flemish Lion,” “God Save the King!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}