“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”
It’s long been noticed that creatives 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭-feel deeply, emotions constantly stirring from depths of dna. Creatives see, feel, live, love from depths of their souls. 𝖲𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗌𝖺𝗒 𝗂𝗍’𝗌 𝖺 𝖼𝗎𝗋𝗌𝖾-𝖨 𝗌𝖺𝗒 𝗂𝗍’𝗌 𝖺 𝗀𝗂𝖿𝗍 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗏𝖾.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet, was deeply creative and shared his emotions through his pen. While now lauded an as American creative, noted for translating Dante’s “Inferno”, writing “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “Hiawatha.” He was a highly regarded Harvard professor. Yet, his friends called him 𝖢𝗁𝗋𝗂𝗌𝗍-𝗁𝖺𝗎𝗇𝗍𝖾𝖽.
He deeply explored his beliefs-he’d probably referred to as a vintage faith deconstructionist these days. While he deeply held firm to Jesus as savior, he wrestled with how we were to live that out in real life here on earth. Some of his thoughts of faith deconstruction can be found in “Christus: A Mystery.” And Christmas morning, he was wrestling.
Longfellow was twice widowed. His first wife, wife of his youth, died of post-miscarriage hemorrhage. His second wife died in a house fire during the height of the American Civil War. And their son, suffering blunt trauma temporary paralysis from Civil War battle, had recently arrived home to find his mother buried and family home in ash. Longfellow, sitting in his home at Christmas-no wife, son still experiencing paralysis-heart aching deep, feeling too unbearable to even go to church, feels the ironic echoes of celebratory church bells pealing hauntingly and stir his heart to the pen.
“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” is a real man’s wrestling for peace. His deeply feeling, deeply hurt, deeply thinking heart searching for joy penned his truth to a page. His concluding thoughts that cold early December morning can be found at the last stanza.
