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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 "It's really all
right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night"
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 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."
Submitted by Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Giles, SC,
USN 30th Naval Construction Regiment
01C, Logistics Cell One Al Taqqadum, Iraq
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