I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth goodwill to men.
I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’unbroken song
Of peace on earth, goodwill 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, goodwill 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, goodwill 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, goodwill to men!”
American Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the words to this poem out of his own pain and loss of wife and son during the Civil War, writing the poem after hearing church bells on Christmas Day 1863.
I liked this song before I knew the story behind it. It tells its own universal story without knowing the author’s story, though the Wadsworth story does add poignancy to it.
At The Rainbow 