As I sit here in front of my computer I am listening to Christmas songs on my Itunes. I just noticed that I have downloaded 221 different Christmas hymns and songs. I really like the music of Christmas as you can probably tell. I have several “favorite” songs, however, one of my most favorite songs is the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His poem, “Christmas Bells” was written in the middle of the Civil War on Christmas day 1863.
Longfellow had lost his wife two years earlier in a tragic fire. He was also burned trying to save her. He was so badly burned he could not attend her funeral and he grew his famous beard to hide the scars on his face, yet he never was able to hide the scars on his heart. (Eighteen years later he was still mourning her death, writing that he was “inwardly bleeding to death.”) He was further devastated when during this particular Christmas season, he was informed that his son Charles had been wounded in the Battle of New Hope Church.
In his pain and despair, and in the middle of a national crisis, this great poet and man of God looked for signs of hope. Initially the sound of the familiar Christmas Bells only added to his pain and confusion. But then, God used these bells to remind him of the true message of Christmas and to give him the Hope, Peace, and Joy he was seeking.
Longfellow will be remembered by such wonderful poems as “The Song of Hiawatha”. “The Children’s Hour” “The Courtship of Miles Standish” and the “Village Blacksmith.” For me, however, I will always treasure this great poem, song and marvelous Christmas message:
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.
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!
