The Wrong Shall Fail.... the Right Prevail...

On Christmas day of 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received the news that his son Charles Appleton Longfellow had suffered wounds as a soldier in the Battle of New Hope Church Virginia during the Mine Run Campaign. On this day he penned the words of a poem titled “Christmas Bells”. Only two years prior he had also suffered the loss of his wife as a result of an accident by fire. The poem originally contained seven stanzas but was reduced to five when constructed into the carol we have come to know “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.

Below are but three of the stanzas of this beautiful poem......

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 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."