A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick

234. THE BELL-MAN

     Along the dark and silent night,
     With my lantern and my light
     And the tinkling of my bell,
     Thus I walk, and this I tell:
     —Death and dreadfulness call on
     To the general session;
     To whose dismal bar, we there
     All accounts must come to clear:
     Scores of sins we've made here many;
     Wiped out few, God knows, if any.
     Rise, ye debtors, then, and fall
     To make payment, while I call:
     Ponder this, when I am gone:
     —By the clock 'tis almost One.