Ring Them Bells (Alternate Version, "Oh Mercy") Lyrics

Ring them bells, ye heathen
From the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
'Cross the valleys and streams
The world's deep and wide
And the world's on its side
Time is running backward
And so is the bride

Ring them bells, St. Peter
Where the four winds blow
Ring them bells with an iron hand
So the people will know
Oh, it's the rush hour now
On the wheel and the plow
And the sun is a-going down
Upon the sacred cow

Ring them bells, sweet Martha
For the poor man's son
Ring them bells so the world will know
That God is one
Oh, the shepherd is asleep
Where the willows weep
And the mountains are filled with lost sheep

Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf
Oh, ring them bells for all of us who are left
Oh, ring them bells for the chosen few
Who will judge the many when the game is through
Ring them bells, for the time that flies
For the child that cries
When an innocence dies

Ring them bells, St. Catherine
From the top of the room
Ring them from the fortress
For the lilies that bloom
For the lines are long
And the fighting is strong
And they're breaking down the distance
Between right and wrong