Chimes Of Freedom

Chimes of Freedom - Bob Dylan

Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll

We ducked inside the doorway thunder crashing

As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds

Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing

Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight

Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight

An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night

An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Through the city's melted furnace unexpectedly we watched

With faces hidden as the walls were tightening

As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain

Dissolved into the bells of the lightning

Tolling for the rebel tolling for the rake

Tolling for the luckless the abandoned an' forsakened

Tolling for the outcast burnin' constantly at stake

An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail

The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder

That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze

Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder

Striking for the gentle striking for the kind

Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind

An' the poet and the painter far behind his rightful time

An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

In the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales

For the disrobed faceless forms of no position

Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts

All down in taken-for-granted situations

Tolling for the deaf an' blind tolling for the mute

For the mistreated mateless mother the mistitled prostitute

For the misdemeanor outlaw chaineded an' cheated by pursuit

An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flared

An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting

Electric light still struck like arrows fired but for the ones

Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting

Tolling for the searching ones on their speechless seeking trai

For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale

An' for each unharmful gentle soul misplaced inside a jaill

An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught

Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended

As we listened one last time and we watched with one last look

Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended

Tolling for the aching whose wounds cannot be nursed

For the countless confused accused misused strung-out ones an' worse

An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe

An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing