Classic Poem

Leaping forth from their steep battlemented nest on the hillside,
Seaward the bells float, on strong reverberant pinions:
Lingering enmingled in silvery dreams of the olives;
Rustling the yellow stalks of the grain, fluttering lightly the vine-leaves;
Low-rolling over the hoarse uproar of the surf;
Soaring over sails and cordage in great ships becalmed off shore;
Groaning in deep narrow crannies of island crags;
They pass, in long, low quivers of melodious laughter:
Till far on a sailless sea drifting and fading,
Or by swift eddies of warm breeze caught, jangled and broken,
Their sonorous tympani vanish beneath the wind's shrill violins.