We will hear the bells

Yesterday, in church, we sang one of my favorite Christmas poems, I hope its words bring as much peace to your heart as it did mine. I could barely whisper the fourth stanza,.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of my favorite poets, wrote this shortly after his wife died in an accidental fire and receiving news that his son was severely injured in the Civil War.


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.

I 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.

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."

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!

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), 1867)