I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Lyrics to the Christmas carol I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

About

History and facts about I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

  • The lyrics to the Christmas carol I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is a poem by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
  • Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem on Christmas Day in 1864.
  • In 1872 John Baptiste Calkin, an organist, took a tune he wrote in 1848 and used it as the melody for the poem.

Lyrics

Lyrics to I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

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.

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 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.”

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!