I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

In November of 1863, teenager Charles Appleton Longfellow tried to enlist in the Union Army without his father’s consent. The captain he had gone to knew the family and called his father for his advice. In spite of the fact that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had recently lost his wife, he knew his son’s adventurous spirit and gave his permission. However, in November of 1863, Charles was seriously wounded at the battle of New Hope, Virginia. He eventually returned home where Henry nursed him back to health.

Henry longed for peace between the North and the South. While listening to the music of nearby church bells at Christmas, he wrote the following poem, which has become one of our favorite hymns during the Christmas season.

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.

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."

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!