Sweeny, TX
A Different Christmas Poem
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
I can carry the weight of killing another,
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
Author Unknown
Back to Faith Remembers America!
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.
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
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.
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.
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.
"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!"
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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?
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 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.
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.
