Christmas 2001: Christmas Bells, New Bedford Massachusetts

This is an image of one of the mansions of New Bedford. It was built in the mid 1800's. It has an air of age about it, with the formal tree and piano. This was the first Christmas after September 11th, and everyone had a tougher holiday season this year. And so we all learned of the horrors of September 11th. It hung in the air as I visited Dublin that December. Irish firefighters collected relief money for their comerades in New York City. I fell upon an older drawing that I had never finished, and a compelling poem of loss at Christmas-time, as Longfellow learns of the death of his Son in the Civil War. The poem Christmas Bells by Longfellow in featured inside this finished 2001 Christmas card.

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!

http://www.danamorris.net/christmas_cards/2001_christmas_card.html