The Wild Bells Again!

Introduction

Peadar Bairéad (my father) wrote an article twenty years ago bidding farewell to one year and welcoming another. That article is as fresh and relevant today as it was when it was written. Perhaps that is not a good thing, because we (humankind) failed to make a lot of progress in the meantime, and we are still plagued by the same problems. But hope springs eternal and hope is deep-seated in us. Therefore, we will never stop our struggle towards a better world – a world where peace prevails forever! And without further ado, here is Peadar’s own article.

Annual Lament

The time of those wild bells has come and gone again. What bells am I talking about here, is it?

The bells are rung to mourn the passing of one year, and to celebrate the birth of a new one, and I need not remind my readers that I use, year after year, appropriate lines from that beautiful, nostalgic lament, composed by Alfred Lord Tennyson, in memory of his friend, Arthur Hallum, in the year 1841, to mourn the passing of a year, for in that poem, there happen to be beautiful quatrains, bidding farewell to the year that was slipping into the depths of history, and at the same time, welcoming the new year, and the happy, peaceful life that that same new year would offer to mankind. And since it would be difficult to surpass the verses of that same poem in expressing “Ave atque Vale”, on this nostalgic occasion, I have therefore decided to use those same verses, once more, to do that for me.

Atmosphere

So, watch how Tennyson creates a fitting atmosphere for the occasion, with the ringing of those same mad bells:

“Ring out wild bells to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty lights.

The year is dying in the night,

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.”

Yes, ring out that mournful bell, as the year is dying in the middle of the night, ring out, and let it die. That is the message the poet sends us, down through the ages.

It may not have been the worst year yet, that year that has just passed, but at the same time, the new year could be a lot better. There is no doubt in the world, but many things happened during that year 2024, without which life would have been better. I need not refer to the floods, the fires, the earthquakes, the wars, the sexual assaults, the drugs, the muggings, the violence, or all the other evils, that have afflicted mankind during the year that is now sent into the mill of time, that year of our Lord, 2024.

The Tailor’s farewell!

And since that same year has now passed, we can give it some abuse. In that Roman phrase “De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum”, we were not prevented from saying anything we liked about it, yes, and we can add the tailor’s blessing with his broken needle to it.

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.

Be that as it may, each of us probably has our own list of the virtues and benefits we have gained from the year that has now passed, or there are two sides to every story. Can't we all think about the conflicts that were resolved, the problems that were solved, the hunger that was satisfied, the thirst that was quenched, the relief that was given, and the crimes that were forgiven during the year? 

The Thousand Years Of Peace

But all that said, aren't we all praying to God that this new year 2025, in a far better one for us, than the guy who is escaping from us.

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.

Yes, aren't we all, probably, seeking peace? And don't we all remember the beautiful, stirring vision of the prophet Isaiah, and didn't he sing poetically about those days of peace to come. He himself must have lived in a time that was quite turbulent, but under Divine inspiration, he succeeded in setting before us, as a race, another possibility, a time when there will be an end forever to fighting and warfare; to slaughter and discord; yes, and to trouble and violence. There would be no more wars, or even rumors of them, the skills of warfare would be forgotten, and weapons would no longer be designed or made among men...

“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into billhooks,

Races shall not raise the sword against each other hereafter,

Nor shall they learn war anymore.”

Isn’t that vision beautiful, shining down upon us through the darkness of the night of human history? That is the desire of the human heart, and at this time of year, we pray again the ancient prayer, that prayer of the Angels...

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Utopia not here yet

But that era has not yet arrived. There is no end to wars, nor to rumors of wars, nor have we defeated famine, nor to all the plagues that torment and afflict our race, but even so, that Guiding Star is in the sky, to guide us, and to hurry us, towards the Vision of the prophet Isaiah. That is the road ahead, that is the road that we are to tread in this year 2025, and is not that the road that will lead us to the Promised Land?

As we now sail into that new year, all I have to do is wish you all a prosperous and beautiful New Year and may we all be seven times better a year from tonight.

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.

Many happy returns!

Stór focal: cumhach, nostalgic; umar, trough; Ave atque Vale, hail and farewell; ag síothlú, dying; sciolladóireacht, scolding; caismirtí, conflicts; faoi anáil Dé, by Divine inspiration; Réalta Eolais, guiding star; Tír Tairngire, the Promised Land 

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