Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Merry Christmas greetings to all of you! Thought I would share the words to one of my favorite Christmas carols, originally written as a poem by one of America's best loved poets, good old Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). "Christmas Bells" contained seven stanzas. Two stanzas were omitted because of references to the American Civil War, giving us the carol in its present form. The remaining five stanzas were slightly rearranged in 1872 by John Calkin (1827-1905), who also gave us the tune. When Longfellow wrote his poem, America was still months away from Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox.

On this Christmas Day, in the year 2010, my wish is very much the same as Longfellow's wish back in 1864: "Peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Christmas Bells
by 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."