Thread: A Christmas Poem

This isn't new but it still rings true.


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 my 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 "Its 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."



[size=12pt]PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this
to as many people as
you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit
is due to our U.S
service men and women for our being able to celebrate
these festivities..
Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of
what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who
sacrificed themselves for
us.[/size]

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq