That Longfellow

I saw a movie about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his son during the Civil War (I Heard the Bells), and I grew curious about him. I'd read a few of his poems, but not many. I had even covered a couple of them with my students. 

So I read a brief online bio of him, then checked at the local library for a longer biography and a collection of his poems. Alas, no biography, but I did find one small collection: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Poems. 

I just finished reading it. Interestingly, the poem on which the movie based,  "Christmas Bells," was not in the collection. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and many of the poems. As is typical of me, I preferred the shorter poems in the collection. One that struck me was 

Mezzo Cammin

Half of my life is gone, and I have let
The years slip from me and have not fulfilled
The aspiration of my youth, to build
Some tower of song with lofty parapet.
Not indolence, nor pleasure, nor the fret
Of restless passions that would not be stilled,
But sorrow, and a care that almost killed,
Kept me from what I may accomplish yet;
Though, half-way up the hill, I see the Past
Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,—
A city in the twilight dim and vast,
With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights,—
And hear above me on the autumnal blast
The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.

It resonated with me because I too have looked at my life and what I have done - and failed to do. But he wrote this when he was just 35! He lived to be 75, and wrote quite a bit more. Me, well, I'm still trying as I approach 70.

As for "Christmas Bells", I found it online.

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."

I looked in my book collection upstairs and found one of his, Tales of a Wayside Inn. I'll read some of the poems in it - though not necessarily all. 

Just some of the shorter ones!  

Pax et bonum