Solemnly, mournfully
Dealing its dole
The Curfew Bell
Is beginning to toll
Cover the embers
And put out the light;
Toil comes with the morning
And rest with the night
Dark grow the windows
And quenched is the fire;
Sound fades into silence,--
All footsteps retire
No voice in the chambers
No sound in the hall!
Sleep and oblivion
Reign over all!

The book is completed
And closed, like the day;
And the hand that has written it
Lays it away
Dim grow its fancies;
Forgotten they lie;
Like coals in the ashes
They darken and die
Song sinks into silence
The story is told
The windows are darkened
The hearth-stone is cold
Darker and darker
The black shadows fall;
Sleep and oblivion
Reign over all