December 20, 2006
A Different Holiday Poem
Vol. 1 Issue
7
I normally do not pass along emails that
say send to
ten people and something great will happen
to you within
the next 15 minutes. However, when someone
sent
me this poem, I was so touched by it. I
decided to publish it as a holiday
newsletter. As you read it try to remember
how fortunate we are to be living in a
country that is a free democracy.
In spite of the fact that I believe we
are in a cultural civil war, I do know that
if you draw a line down the middle of a
piece of and list the good things about
America on one side and the on the other,
the good list will be longer every time.
A Different Holiday 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, my wife and my
child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without
fear,
"Come in here this moment, it's freezing out
there!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from
your sleeve,
You should be at home on this 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
lines,
That separates you from the darkest of
times.
No one had asked, begged or implored me,
I'm just 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 Grams
will always remember."
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)
PLEASE, Would you forward this to as many
people as you can? The holidays are upon us
and some credit is due to our U.S. service
men and women for us being able to celebrate
the holidays in peace with our families and
friends. 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. Keep them
in your prayers during this season and
always.
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