[Verse 1]
On a pitch black night with gossamer wings
Beating out just around the edges
A golden albatross burst onto the scene
Like arrows filled with fire poking holes in my dreams
Making way for a mountain and a river flowing free

[Chorus]
I hear bells
I hear bells
Closer than my skin
Closer than my skin

[Verse 2]
A silver tone pierced a stock-still night
The clapper struck the bell with thunder
Its echoes filled the earth with violent shaking sounds
The people woke and stood on hill and hallowed ground
And the sound so bright it released them from their shadows

[Chorus]
I hear bells
I hear bells
Closer than my skin
Closer than my skin

[Hook]
A coal laid on my tongue
A vision broke my thumbs
A golden thorn pierced my scorn
And a newer light is born
A newer light is born

[Verse 3]
A man pulls back the string on a single bow of bronze
It was fitted with the sharpest of arrows
He aimed it toward the void
He aimed it to destroy
The crippling lies of cynics and fools
Yet the tip was filled with seeds
Which grew up into mighty trees
And the forest came back up around the city