Yells, Bells, Hells

 

Jeff–Saturday

 

I am so angry at all that’s going on in America that I dare not write what I feel. Especially at this moment, with the United States having placed its Covid vaccination program in the hands of a Keystone Cops distribution system.  My apologies to the Keystone Cops for my intemperate reference, because even that classically incompetent crew would do far better than the disorganized, clueless wonders charged with rescuing their fellow Americans from this plague.

 

But instead of a rant, I’m offering a poem.  Actually a parody.  One that relaxed me, made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside as I worked on it, while awaiting my number to be called…hopefully for the vaccine.

 

It borrows from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Christmas Bells,” written in 1864, during the Civil War.

 

I heard yells on Election Day
The familiar partisan bay,
Quite wild the bleat
Their words repeat
No peace on earth, ‘til we do win!

 

I thought how, as the vote had come
In a record show of Freedom,
We’d shown the throng
Give up on your song
No peace on earth, ‘til we do win!

 

With lying, ranting every day,
The world devolved from right to nay,
No voice sublime
Questioned the rhyme,
No peace on earth, ‘til we do win!

 

Then from the top accursed mouth
The lies thundered out North and South,
Thinking he drowned
Out truth with sound
No peace on earth, ‘til we do win!

 

It was a lie of bad intent,
To rob our nation of content,
All made forlorn
By those who warn
No peace on earth, ‘til we do win!

 

And in despair I bowed my head;
“Will there be peace on earth," I said;
“For hate is strong,
That sings the song
No peace on earth, ‘til we do win!”

 

Now come new yells, more loud and deep:
“All is not lost, we need not weep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

 

Here’s the original version:

 

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.”

 

–Jeff