prayers for peace

The news of the horror in Connecticut leaves me without words. Tears keep threatening and will fall.

But as my heart weighs heavy, I hear verses repeat. I played them as hymn on ivory keys and they echo still. Heaving hope into an ache that throbs.

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.”

~ Christmas Bells, Henry Wadworth Longfellow