12/06/2008
A Military Christmas Poem
as shared by Doug Davis
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."
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
Please visit http://anysoldier.com/
LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq