Peace on Earth, Good Will to Everyone

Suzy Bogguss & Chet Atkins: "I heard the bells on Christmas Day" circa 1992

I heard the belIs 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 the 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 pealed the beIls 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, written as a prayer following the critical wounding of his son who joined the Union Army against the poet's wishes, during the American Civil War