I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was an American poet, writer and translator. One of his works, the 1863 poem "Christmas Bells" was later turned into a Christmas carol called "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day."

Its one of the more thought-provoking carols I've found and given the events of last Friday in Connecticut, it seems timely to share it here and now:

I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day

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."

(H/T to R. Starnes)

Sources: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow