In the night alarm chase.
The cymbals whang,

The kettledrums bang: --
# In this passage the reading or chanting

is shriller and higher. #
"Clear the street,

Clear the street,
Clear the street -- Boom, boom.

In the evening gloom,
In the evening gloom,

Give the engines room,
Give the engines room,

Lest souls be trapped
In a terrible tomb."

The sparks and the pine-brands
Whirl on high

From the black and reeking alleys
To the wide red sky.

Hear the hot glass crashing,
Hear the stone steps hissing.

Coal black streams
Down the gutters pour.

There are cries for help
From a far fifth floor.

For a longer ladder
Hear the fire-chief call.

Listen to the music
Of the firemen's ball.

Listen to the music
Of the firemen's ball.

# To be read or chanted in a heavy bass. #
"'Tis the

NIGHT
Of doom,"

Say the ding-dong doom-bells.
"NIGHT

Of doom,"
Say the ding-dong doom-bells.

Faster, faster
The red flames come.

"Hum grum," say the engines,
"Hum grum grum."

# Shriller and higher. #
"Buzz, buzz,"

Says the crowd.
"See, see,"

Calls the crowd.
"Look out,"

Yelps the crowd
And the high walls fall: --

Listen to the music
Of the firemen's ball.

Listen to the music
Of the firemen's ball.

# Heavy bass. #
"'Tis the

NIGHT
Of doom,"

Say the ding-dong doom-bells.
"NIGHT

Of doom,"
Say the ding-dong doom-bells.

Whangaranga, whangaranga,
Whang, whang, whang,

Clang, clang, clangaranga,
# Bass, much slower. #

Clang, clang, clang.
Clang--a--ranga--

Clang--a--ranga--
Clang,

Clang,
Clang.

Listen -- to -- the -- music --
Of the firemen's ball --

Section Two
"Many's the heart that's breaking

If we could read them all
After the ball is over." (An old song.)

# To be read or sung slowly and softly,
in the manner of lustful, insinuating music. #

Scornfully, gaily
The bandmaster sways,

Changing the strain
That the wild band plays.

With a red and royal intoxication,
A tangle of sounds

And a syncopation,
Sweeping and bending

From side to side,
Master of dreams,

With a peacock pride.
A lord of the delicate flowers of delight

He drives compunction
Back through the night.

Dreams he's a soldier
Plumed and spurred,

And valiant lads
Arise at his word,

Flaying the sober
Thoughts he hates,

Driving them back
From the dream-town gates.

How can the languorous
Dancers know

The red dreams come
# To be read or chanted slowly and softly

in the manner of lustful insinuating music. #
When the good dreams go?

"'Tis the
NIGHT

Of love,"
Call the silver joy-bells,

"NIGHT
Of love,"

Call the silver joy-bells.
"Honey and wine,

Honey and wine.
Sing low, now, violins,

Sing, sing low,
Blow gently, wood-wind,

Mellow and slow.
Like midnight poppies

The sweethearts bloom.
Their eyes flash power,

Their lips are dumb.
Faster and faster

Their pulses come,
Though softer now

The drum-beats fall.
Honey and wine,

Honey and wine.
'Tis the firemen's ball,

'Tis the firemen's ball.
# With a climax of whispered mourning. #

"I am slain,"
Cries true-love

There in the shadow.
"And I die,"

Cries true-love,
There laid low.

"When the fire-dreams come,
The wise dreams go."

# Suddenly interrupting. To be read or sung in
a heavy bass. First eight lines as harsh as possible.

Then gradually musical and sonorous. #
BUT HIS CRY IS DROWNED

BY THE PROUD BAND-MASTER.
And now great gongs whang,

Sharper, faster,
And kettledrums rattle

And hide the shame
With a swish and a swirk

In dead love's name.
Red and crimson

And scarlet and rose
Magical poppies

The sweethearts bloom.
The scarlet stays

When the rose-flush goes,
And love lies low

In a marble tomb.
"'Tis the

NIGHT
Of doom,"

Call the ding-dong doom-bells.
"NIGHT

Of Doom,"
Call the ding-dong doom-bells.

# Sharply interrupting in a very high key. #
Hark how the piccolos still make cheer.

"'Tis a moonlight night in the spring of the year."
# Heavy bass. #

CLANGARANGA, CLANGARANGA,
CLANG . . . CLANG . . . CLANG.

CLANG . . . A . . . RANGA . . .
CLANG . . . A . . . RANGA . . .

CLANG . . . CLANG . . . CLANG . . .
LISTEN . . . TO . . . THE . . . MUSIC . . .

OF . . . THE . . . FIREMEN'S BALL . . .
LISTEN . . . TO . . . THE . . . MUSIC . . .

OF . . . THE . . . FIREMEN'S . . . BALL. . . .
Section Three

In Which, contrary to Artistic Custom, the moral of the piece
is placed before the reader.

(From the first Khandaka of the Mahavagga: "There Buddha
thus addressed his disciples: `Everything, O mendicants, is burning.

With what fire is it burning? I declare unto you it is burning
with the fire of passion, with the fire of anger, with the fire of ignorance.

It is burning with the anxieties of birth, decay and death,
grief, lamentation, suffering and despair. . . . A disciple, . . .

becoming weary of all that, divests himself of passion.
By absence of passion, he is made free.'")

# To be intoned after the manner of a priestly service. #
I once knew a teacher,

Who turned from desire,
Who said to the young men

"Wine is a fire."
Who said to the merchants: --

"Gold is a flame
That sears and tortures

If you play at the game."

• reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
• delicate [´delikət] a.精美的；微妙的 (初中英语单词)
• gently [´dʒentli] ad.温和地；静静地 (初中英语单词)
• midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)
• mourning [´mɔ:niŋ] n.悲伤；治丧；戴孝 (初中英语单词)
• musical [´mju:zikəl] a.音乐的；悦耳的 (初中英语单词)
• scarlet [´skɑ:lit] n.猩红色 a.猩红的 (初中英语单词)
• marble [´mɑ:bəl] n.大理石 a.大理石的 (初中英语单词)
• sharply [´ʃɑ:pli] ad.锋利地；剧烈地 (初中英语单词)
• moonlight [´mu:nlait] n.&a.月光(的) (初中英语单词)
• contrary [´kɔntrəri] a.相反的 n.相反 (初中英语单词)
• passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
• suffering [´sʌfəriŋ] n.痛苦；灾害 (初中英语单词)
• despair [di´speə] vi.&n.绝望 (初中英语单词)
• absence [´æbsəns] n.不在，缺席；缺乏 (初中英语单词)
• tangle [´tæŋgəl] n.&vt.(使)缠结；纠纷 (高中英语单词)
• peacock [´pi:kɔk] n.(雄)孔雀 vi.炫耀 (高中英语单词)
• climax [´klaimæks] n.顶点；高潮 (高中英语单词)
• artistic [ɑ:´tistik] a.艺术的；有美感的 (高中英语单词)
• valiant [´væliənt] a.勇敢的，英勇的 (英语四级单词)
• lamentation [,læmen´teiʃən] n.悲痛，哀悼，痛哭 (英语四级单词)
• disciple [di´saipəl] n.门徒，弟子 (英语四级单词)