A Different Christmas Poem

It seems most times I want to have a pity party for myself, God sends me gentle little reminders in various ways. This time it was in an email from my dear friend Jodi that I grew up with in Iowa. Tom will be gone for Christmas this year and I was feeling a little down and in my email was this little reminder of what I have to be thankful for. So grab a tissue and enjoy the 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.'>>

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN>

30th Naval Construction Regiment>

OIC, Logistics Cell One>

Al Taqqadum, Iraq