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Longfellow’s PoemLet’s shift the scene for a moment to Christmas Day 1864. After four bloody years, the Civil War is slowly drawing to close. Already 500,000 soldiers have died. Many more would die before the war would finally end. On that Christmas Day, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned a poem that became a beloved Christmas carol called I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. It starts with these hopeful words:I heard the bells on Christmas DayTheir old, familiar carols play,and wild and sweetThe words repeatOf peace on earth, good-will to men!“For hate is strong and mocks the song”Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”There is a story behind this poem that most people don’t know. Shortly after the war began, Longfellow’s beloved wife Fanny died after being terribly burned in a household accident. Her death threw Longfellow into despair. In his journal for December 25, 1862, he recorded, “’A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.” In 1863 his eldest son Charles was severely wounded and crippled in battle. Out of his own sadness and in response to the carnage of war, he wrote this pessimistic verse:And in despair I bowed my head;“There is no peace on earth,” I said;“For hate is strong,And mocks the songOf peace on earth, good-will to men!”Lately those words have seemed all too true. Hate is strong. Where is our hope at Christmastime? In Jesus Christ, and the Bible.