Christmas Bells

One of my favorite carols – I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day – is actually based upon a poem “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  While many Christmas tunes range from festively chipper (Hark the Herald) to the annoyingly upbeat (All I Want for Christmas are My Two Front Teeth), “Christmas Bells” has always spoken to me through its deeper message. Suffering is still alive on earth; our darkest moments seem dark indeed. But behind the despair is a knowledge that God is not dead; suffering has its time, but right shall prevail.

Longfellow himself knew suffering well. In 1861 his wife Fanny was killed in a fire and his family’s life was forever changed with the opening shots of the Civil War. Soon after, Longfellow’s son Charles was severely wounded in the war. And yet, Longfellow continued in his staunch abolitionist efforts and eventually penned the poem below.

As Christmas closes and the New Year approaches, may we all adopt Longfellow’s view: that hope is vital, that suffering is but for a night before dawn rises, that injustice should never be left alone to grow through our apathy or indifference.



 Christmas Bells (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
    Their old, familiar carols play,
        And wild and sweet
        The words repeat
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

  

  And thought how, as the day had come,
    The belfries of all Christendom
        Had rolled along
        The unbroken song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

  Till ringing, singing on its way,
    The world revolved from night to day,
        A voice, a chime,
        A chant sublime
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

  

  Then from each black, accursed mouth
    The cannon thundered in the South,
        And with the sound
        The carols drowned
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    It was as if an earthquake rent
    The hearth-stones of a continent,
        And made forlorn
        The households born
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    And in despair I bowed my head;
    "There is no peace on earth," I said;
        "For hate is strong,
        And mocks the song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

  Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
    "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
        The Wrong shall fail,
        The Right prevail,

    With peace on earth, good-will to men."