THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL
By Charles Warren Stoddard
[Particularly note the possibility of onomatopoesy in the following refrain. What answer do the bells give to the questions of the poet? There is no other answer than their steady, monotonous toll. The answer must be found in your own heart, viz., that no good work, done with high zeal and enthusiasm, with self-sacrifice, ever can be in vain. Then read the refrain as a bell would sound, if it were struck at the end of each line, prolonging the sound to correspond with the continued resonance of the bell.]
Thine was the corn and the wine,
The blood of the grape that nourished;
The blossom and fruit of the vine
That was heralded far away.
These were thy gifts; and thine,
When the vine and the fig-tree flourished,
The promise of peace and of glad increase