A Poem for Christmas - Barbara Jean Hicks

I love Christmas, but this year things have not gone as planned, and I haven't had time to do any of the things I normally do for the holidays--decorating, making Christmas cards, writing a Christmas letter, shopping for gifts, baking.

The tragedy in Newtown on top of the personal challenges I'm facing has affected my desire to celebrate. Listening to Christmas music is the only tradition I've held to this year, and that only because one doesn't need to make an effort to hear Christmas music in December.

I've been paying attention to the words of some of the classic carols, the one below in particular, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the midst of the American Civil War. In one stanza he wrote: "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!” Such a dark time in our history--and yet, reading to the end of the poem, one sees that Longfellow found hope in the midst of despair.

This, to me, is the message of Christmas: In darkness, the promise of light. In struggle, the promise of peace. In despair, hope.

This is my wish for you this Christmas.

CHRISTMAS BELLS

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.”

                 --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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