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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.' |
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Published By:
Diesel Exhaust Systems
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