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!"