On Christmas Day, 1863, in the midst of a war that was ripping apart the very country his own forefathers had sacrificed to create – a war that was stretching his own personal faith in God to its very limit – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned words to a new poem. This Christmas, in the face of what looks like a world being ripped apart by that same kind of evil, may the solace and renewed faith that Longfellow found and shared be rekindled in your heart as well through his words:

“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.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’unbroken song
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 peeled 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.’”

~~~