This poem is amazing and I wanted to share with as
many as I could
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.'
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
THE U IN JESUS
Before U were thought of or time had begun,
God stuck U in the name of His Son.
And each time U pray, you'll see it's true,
You can't spell out JesUs and not include U.
You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name,
For U, He was born; that's why He came.
And His great love for U is the reason He died.
It even takes U to spell crUcified.
Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand
He rose from the dead, with U in His plan?
The stones split away, the gold trUmpet blew,
and this word resUrrection is spelled with a U.
When JesUs left earth at His upward ascension,
He felt there was one thing He just had to mention.
'Go into the world and tell them it's true
That I love them all - Just like I love U.'
So many great people are spelled with a U,
Don't they have a right to know JesUs too?
It all depends now on what U will do,
He'd like them to know,
But it all starts with U.
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