Christmas Bells

 

Christmas Bells was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Christmas Day, 1863. We sing it today as a Christmas carol usually titled as “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” We sang it this past Sunday at church. Our hymn book, however, omits a couple of verses without which the carol loses much of its meaning.

This beautiful poem, song, carol was written by one who had endured and was enduring much grief. His wife had died only two years earlier and his son lay dying — or so he thought — from injuries sustained in battle against the Confederacy.

Here it is in its entirety:

    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."