Christmas blessings to you.

Christmas Day 2009, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Kate Smith's rendition of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. The final verse never fails to evoke tears from me.

The carol is based on a poem of the same name by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow penned the piece while nursing his teenage son after he was seriously wounded in the Civil War. (A wonderful article detailing the circumstances that led to the composition of the poem can be found at: The Christmas Carol Soldier, by Rev. Robert Girard Carroon.)

Wishing each of you a Merry Christmas marked by hope and peace.

~~~~~~

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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!

'Til 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!"