Their Old, Familiar Carols Play

I’m going to write a short Christmas post on my tablet as my computer is ill. Quite ill. Hoping for a full recovery.

By the time December 25 rolls around, many of us have grown weary of the music. That’s too bad, because there are beautiful carols and hymns that belong at Christmas. I think I first heard “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in late October this year. And even though I choose my music at home, the grocery store, the pharmacy, the optometrist…..everyone’s got holiday music playing. “Winter Wonderland” in early December is fine. “Silent Night” on that day is not – in my opinion!!!

“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” is a Christmas carol based on the 1863 poem “Christmas Bells” by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The song tells of the narrator’s despair, upon hearing Christmas bells, that “hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.” The carol concludes with the bells carrying renewed hope for peace among men. (Source: Wikipedia)

The lyrics seem especially timely now. And thank you to my friend Connie Ciampanelli for the prompt! 

Wishing you peace, love of family and friends, quiet joy, true blessings, hearty food, thoughtful gifts, warmth.
The following are the original words of Longfellow’s 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 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.”