dVerse Questions

oldBells
St Peter’s Church Bells

Where can you find a bell that will ring in your dreams?
– by Pablo Neruda

 
Old world bells ring on the hour,
half hour, and quarter hour, they
ring for weddings, for funerals,
on Saints’ days, for feast or fast,
for mass and … the bells want

the sky to howl — to shine like
the colour of a gun-grey wolf,
to fill the air with grit and dust.
It’s a wind song … the bells call

to a girl who’s startlingly pale,
looks like an anemic angel, and
she covers her ears … those old

world bells peal on peal, and
she doesn’t know if it’s feast
or fast … if it’s a dream or not,
those bells ringing all the time,
even in her dreams.

 
 

DVerse Poetic Questions ©️ Misky 2019

12 responses to “dVerse Questions”

  1. Misky I really love your poem – superb imagery from start to finish – too many exceptional lines to pick out but still cannot resist these:
    “the bells want

    the sky to howl — to shine like
    the colour of a gun-grey wolf,
    to fill the air with grit and dust.
    It’s a wind song … the bells call”

    I’m sure Neruda would love to see how you have run with his questioning – thank you for joining the prompt

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you for the prompt, Laura. I enjoyed writing to it.

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  2. What Laura highlights, I love too. But that ending is so good-strong.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Debi. I reckon the girl’s got a real case of tinnitus. LOL!

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Beautiful poem Misky, with beautiful imagery and I love the move from old-world to dream-world. Lovely x

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    1. Thank you very much, Catherine-Jayne

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  4. I really love this… maybe more for the thought of the bells who permeate everything… and how you never can now if it is for fast or feast… (maybe also for war of for peace)… with such bells they will also be present in dreams.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Björn.

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  5. I like the merging of waking and sleep. (K)

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  6. A fabulous response to the Neruda question, Misky. I love bells, they don’t ring enough, except in old fashioned towns and villages in places like France and Italy. You’ve caught that old world feeling in the howling sky and wind song. I want to know more about the girl who doesn’t know if it’s feast or fast.

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  7. These lines knock me out!
    to shine like
    the colour of a gun-grey wolf

    Liked by 1 person

  8. “the sky to howl — to shine like
    the colour of a gun-grey wolf,
    to fill the air with grit and dust.
    It’s a wind song … the bells call”

    Love this imagery!

    Like

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