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.
Friends, keep our Armed Services in your prayers. They are risking their lives to protect what we take for granted, and they are losing their lives every day.
They won't be home with their families this Christmas. I Pray God Will Truly Bless Them, and keep them safe.
Not my words, but certainly my sentiments.
Rick
