*_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*
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