Toll the Bell!

Toll the bell,
Make it sound,
Ring it long and hard.

For those who walked through the flood
And for those who drowned.

Ring the bell
For souls suffocated in attics,
For women who believed it
Better to sit in uncertainty
Than to risk abuse,
And for courageous men who sheltered strangers.

Toll the bell,
Ring it loud and hard.
Ring it for those who
Will never escape
The images of dome filth
And hands stretched out for mercy.

Let the bell give voice
To smothered sorrow
And smoldering rage.
Let its piecing sound
Lift those who sit in ashes
And keep company with the ones
Still wailing at the wall of abandonment.

Toll the bell
Ring it loud and hard.
Until its sounds
Rouse stagnation
And faux contentment
From armchairs of ease.

Toll the bell.
Let it ring across the land
Long enough to awaken
Memory, our Teacher,
Long enough to catapult
Boredom into action,
Long enough to deter the rich and powerful
From using the sounds of the world's misery
As background noise for sleep.

Toll the bell,
Ring it loud and hard
Lest we forget!