*_A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM_*

*The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,*


*I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.*


*My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,*


*My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.*


*Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white*


*transforming the yard to a winter delight.*


*The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,*

*Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.*

*My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,*

*Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.*

*In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,*

*So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.*

*The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,*

*But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.*


*Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,*


*Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.*


*My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,*


*And I crept to the door just to see who was near.*


*Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,*


*a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.*


*A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, *


*Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.*


*Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,*


*Standing watch over me, and my wife and child.*


*"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,*


*"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!*


*Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,*


*You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"*


*For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,*


*Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.*


*To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.*


*Then he sighed and he said "It's really all right,*


*I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."*


*"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,*


*That separates you from the darkest of times.*


*No one had to ask or beg or implore me,*


*I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.*


*My Gramps died at 'Pearl' on a day in December,*


*Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram' always remembers."*


*My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',*


*And now it is my turn and so, here I am.*


*I've not seen my own son in more than a while,*


*But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.*


*Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,*


*The red, white, and blue... an American flag.*


*"I can live through the cold and the being alone,*


*Away from my family, my house and my home.*


*I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,*


*I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.*


*I can carry the weight of killing another,*


*Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..*


*Who stand at the front against any and all,*


*To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."*


*"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,*


*Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."*


*"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,*


*Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?"*


*It seems all too little for all that you've done,*


*For being away from your wife and your son."*


*Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,*


*"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.*


*To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,*


*To stand your own watch, no matter how long.*


*For when we come home, either standing or dead,*


*To know you remember we fought and we bled*


*Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,*


*That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.*


*Author unknown.*

*WE ALL NEED TO PRAY FOR OUR MILITARY PERSONNEL EVERY NIGHT*

Thank you NYGAL, I had forgotten.

And pray they all return home soon and safe!

Amen.

AMEN

Nice poem NYgal.... quick story....during Thanksgiving our flight from Dublin, Ireland stopped at Shannon and we had a little time to wait. While there the airport was crowded with guys from the 101rst airborn waiting to head off to Kuwait and then on to Iraq. We made a point of talking to a number of them and most importantly saying "thanks". It's important to remember...

How times change. This is much better than getting cursed on 5th Ave in N.Y. in the 60s.

I have not made comments on the Board since my last visit 2 years ago. Read each week, miss the Island and its people .

Reading this poem brought a true story to mind and a few tears. Today a Col in the Army reserves, flying home for two weks to see his family. He stands for in what we are believe. Freedom for All. This not a political statement , just a beief.By the way this soldier is Calass of 75 The Citadel Military College of S.C. Class of 75, my friend, Classmateand a Hero
As Tiny tim said" God bless all"

Soory for Typos

tears from me.
bless all.
immissing had me stay gone.
Merry Christmas Immissing.
ny not a fault.
wife happy with me. it matters.
life short.
paguy thankyou to bring me back.

XXX thanks

Bill, as you know, Canada did not feel the same way about the Vietnam war... we were more anti-war than your country, actually, weren't we, BUT I am truly sorry. It was not an outrage directed at the fellows participating in the war, rather the government that compelled you to attend. And, as you are aware, we offered refuge and cold weather to all who chose to come here. The people that attended that war on our behalf were greatly mistreated and, as a fervent war protester from the 70's, I apologize. I was trying to get you home safely, not keep you there nor send you over. Patti, shut up. Bill, Merry Christmas.