Ring Out, Wild Bells, a poem set to music by Alana Levandoski, is a heartfelt, prayerful intention to ring out the old and ring in the new. The poem “In Memoriam (Ring out, wild bells)” was written during a time of grief, nearly 150 years ago, by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). The lyrics ring true for both letting go and welcoming in—letting go of the false, feuding, dying, grief, pride, partisan divide, and civic slander while also welcoming in the new, true, noble, sweet, pure, love, truth, light, and peace.
“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.”
― LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
(Image above taken at St. Jacob’s Church bell tower in Telc, Czechia)
Listening to the sweet and soulful songs of Alana Levandoski is prayer itself. A contemplative Christian composer, song and chant writer, and producer, she believes in “music’s illuminating power to catch glimpses of incarnation in and through all of life…We need artists, the poets, the healers, the carriers of stories that are as endangered and as alive as the forests.” I have used her contemplative songs and chants in retreats I have led and in my own prayer practice. Whether setting music to her own words or lyrics drawn from poetry or scripture, her music is elevated prayer.
Listen to the song and practicing Lectio Divina with the lyrics as a New Year’s prayer. Consider what needs to be let go of, what needs to die, or what is false in your life or in the world. What truth needs to be put into action? Where is our light needed? Let this poem, this song, be your hope for new beginnings. Let us ring out the darkness and ring in the light!
Ring Out, Wild Bells!
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
Song recommendations
“Move Slowly” is one of my favorite meditative songs with Alana and James Finley. Practice Visio Divina with the “Just Float” card and Lectio Divina with the lyrics of “Move Slowly”. Find song and image HERE. Find prompts for journaling, collage, or contemplation HERE.
“There is a Peace” is a mindful meditation from Sanctuary, an album of recorded music, chant, and spoken word by songwriter Alana Levandoski and James Finley. I used this song during a retreat called “Sanctuary” during Advent last year. More songs and ideas for honoring Sanctuary HERE.
More about Alana Levandoski.
Other Being Benedictine posts on music:
St. Cecilia, Patron of Music—November 22 Saint of the Day
Music as Prayer ♫ This Journey Is My Own
Being Benedictine 