Christmas Bells
Image by Albrecht Fietz from Pixabay
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem below on Christmas Day in 1863, at one of the darkest moments of his life. Two years earlier, his beloved wife Fanny had died after being burned in a tragic accident in their home. Longfellow, who was also badly burned trying to save her, was left to raise six children as the Civil War tore the country apart. His grief deepened when his eldest son enlisted against his wishes and was severely wounded in battle.
On Christmas Day that year, as the war raged on and his son endured a painstaking recovery, Longfellow sat by his window in Cambridge listening to the church bells ring. As he did so, he was overcome by despair, contemplating the dissonance between their message of peace and goodwill and the reality of a country torn apart by hatred and violence. So he did what poets do at such times: he took up his pen and wrote.
But he didn’t write only about his despair. He also wrote about hope—not a naïve or sentimental hope, but a hope based on a deep faith that love and peace can survive even the most brutal of trials.
In the 1870s, Longfellow’s poem was adapted into a Christmas carol, later popularized Bing Crosby and others. “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was my father’s favorite carol. Each year, I would ask Papa to tell me again about its history, and then we’d talk about how relevant its message continued to be. If Papa were still with us, I think he would agree that it’s never been more so than at Christmastime this year.
This one’s for you, Papa.
Christmas Bells
by 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.”
From Flower-de-Luce (George Routledge and Sons, 1867), now in the public domain.
