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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 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.

WE ALL NEED TO PRAY FOR OUR

MILITARY PERSONNEL EVERY NIGHT!