I looked up at the blue sky over the closed off construction site. Images of the twin towers flashed from my memory and the words from the Christmas song we had just completed recording rang through my mind:
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 roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair, I bow'd 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."
This was the first time we had been to ground zero. Peace on earth has always been elusive. Wars have always been but on that day, September 11, 2001, we felt the meaning of the words, “For hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Our walk toward Battery Park around the site was silent. I have always found it hard to understand why the sun still shines when my heart is heavy. Then I remembered the rest of the words to the song:
It was as if an earthquake rentThe hearthstones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
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."
