CHRISTMAS BELLS BY Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

                            (1807-1882)


   Stanza 1

  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!

Stanza 2

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!”

Stanza 3

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!”





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