The Bells Of Morning
(Stephen Fearing)

Tonight I am speechless
My head is filled with pouring rain
As the darkness falls on Montreal
When violence is shrieking
The city streets will run with pain
Till the moon can shed no light at all

I believe that we have fallen
In the middle of an old highway
And the past is rolling over us
As men begin to understand what women say
They history reaching out to smother all of us

So ring the bells of morning
For sorrow and for shame
Let the deep well inside each of us
Swell with outrage
And those of us who know
What went before can come again
Must ring the bells
We must ring the bells of morning

I met a man once, he held himself tighter than a fist
He was hard and fast in his inflexibility
He was threatened my the future
A product of the past
He was terrified my his own femininity

Ring the bells of morning
We have everything to gain
And may those of us who comprehend
Commit our lives to change
And though you swear
That you can't let yourself be vulnerable again
Ring the bells, we must ring the bells of morning

And if we can't face ourselves
Then we will never understand
We can learn to make a cradle
With these stubborn hands
And we will hear the echoes
From this shattered land
When we ring the bells of morning

I met a woman once she told me
She was scared that we might never see the day
When the violence was overcome
She said silence is the fuel
Fear and ignorance the roaring flames
The burn the freedom out of everyone

So ring the bells of morning
And let none of us pretend
For if you walk the paths of silence
You might never reach the end
And those of us who know
What went before can come again
Must ring the bells
We must ring the bells of morning

So ring the bells of morning
Ring them loud and ring them long
Let the mother tongue of strength
Be the peaceful language of this song
Let those ancient voices lead us all into the dawn
Ring the bells, we must ring the bells of morning

Stephen Fearing 1989