12
Oh, the snowflakes fell in silence
over Belleau Wood that night,
for a Christmas truce had been declared
by both sides of the fight.
And as we lay there in our trenches
the silence broke in two
by a German soldier singing
a song that we all knew.
Though I did not know the language,
the song was ‟Silent Night”,3
then I heard my buddy whisper
«All is calm and all is bright».
Then the fear and doubt surrounded me,
’cause I’d die if I was wrong,
but I stood up in my trench
and I began to sing along.
Then, across the frozen battlefield,
another’s voice joined in,
until, one by one, each man became
a singer of the hymn.
Then I thought that I was dreaming,
for right there in my sight
stood the German soldier
’neath the falling flakes of white;
and he raised his hand and smiled at me,
as if he seemed to say
«here’s hoping we both live
to see us find a better way».
Then the devil’s clock struck midnight
and the skies lit up again,
and the battlefield where heaven stood
was blown to hell again.
But for just one fleeting moment
the answer seemed so clear:
Heaven’s not beyond the clouds,
it’s just beyond the fear.
No, Heaven’s not beyond the clouds,
it’s for us to find it here.
1. Belleau Wood is a place in France where they fought during WWI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belleau_Wood2. On Christmas 1914 (the first Christmas of WWI), a spontaneous truce was established between the opposing factions, especially between British and Germans.
They started singing Christmas songs from their trenches, then met in no man’s land without shooting, and even played football.
The news of the truce was not received very friendly high up in the military hierarchy, and the war started again soon thereafter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce3. The original version of Silent Night is the German Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht {Silent Night, Holy Night}.