Thursday, January 23, 2014

The Voice of Bells

Bells of the church of San Giovanni Battista, Saint John the Baptist church, Livorno
The bells of the church of San Giovanni Battista (Saint John the Baptist), in Via Carraia.

Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum!
Defunctos ploro, pestem fugo, festa decoro!
Funera plango, fulgora frango, sabbata pango!
Excito lentos, dissipo ventos, paco cruentos!
(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Legend, 1851)

(I praise the true God, I call the people, I assemble the clergy!
I bewail the dead, I put to flight plague, I honor the feasts!
I mourn at funerals , I scatter the thunderbolts, I call the sabbaths!
I hustle the sluggards, I drive away storms, I proclaim peace after a bloodshed!)

9 comments:

Revrunner said...

"I hustle the sluggards." :-)

Luis Gomez said...

Love the sound of church bells.

Michelle said...

Church bells are always inspiring. We have some here in my small town.

Randy said...

Beautiful.

Dina said...

Wonderful old bells!
Read the concise Latin lines aloud and it sounds like bells clanging!
Thanks for introducing me to this work of Longfellow; its a keeper.

cieldequimper said...

I wish I could hear it. I love the sound of bells.

Unknown said...

Beautiful bell and great shot, VP.

Traveling Hawk said...

I like to photograph bells when I have the ocassion. If I think more, there must be a lot of bell photos in my collection, from different countries.

Nice framing, V.P.!

Jack said...

Your photograph is lovely, VP, and the Longfellow poem is a special treat.

I am sure that Bernard and Claude would be proud for a day on aBoB.