The Wrong Shall Fail
“The wrong shall fail? since when?”
Today I’d like to take a look at a particularly moving Christmas song. There’s a story behind the creation of every song, and sometimes knowing the story can make the song all the more meaningful. This is one of my favorites.
The story begins on Christmas Day, 1863, when the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem called “Christmas Bells”.
Wadsworth starts his poem with church bells ringing out the joy of Christmas:
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!
The Cannon Thundered
The poet, however, was not filled with unmixed good cheer. His wife had recently died a tragic death in a house fire. On top of that, he had just received news that his son Charles, who had left without his knowledge or consent to fight in the bitter Civil War that was then embroiling the United States, had been wounded in battle . . .
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