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."
The first three verses of the song are Longfellow reflecting on relatively happy and peaceful Christmases past. Then- in the two unused verses of the poem- he describes the change from the idyllic to the horrific, the result of the Civil War. The next verse describes his discouragement and sense of defeat he feels in the face of war, his certainty that hate has won out over love, war over peace. Then, in the last verse, Longfellow receives assurance that, despite the current suffering, God is still in control and right will ultimately win out over wrong.
I was thinking of this when I was reading about the horror of the Islamic terror attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt last Sunday morning. These attacks happen so frequently now that, sadly, we are more resigned to them than surprised by them. It would be easy to think that these vile and evil people will succeed in their ghastly aims, but I believe that ultimately, these terrorists and the cult of death which they espouse will be defeated, that "wrong shall fail," and "right prevail."
Here are a couple different versions of I Heard The Bells; the first by the Carpenters, the second a slightly re-worked version by Casting Crowns.