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."
PLEASE, would you do me the
kind favor of sending this to as
many people as you can?
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.
LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq
|