Harlem Library
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This week I would like to reprint a well-loved poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. On Christmas Day, 1863, Longfellow was a widower and father of six. His oldest son had been paralyzed fighting for the Union in the Civil War. As Longfellow heard the bells that December day he observed a world of injustice and violence. He wrote the poem with optimism it would lead to a confident hope even in the midst of bleak despair.
Christmas Bells
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
1807 - 1882
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.”
