|
SOLDIERS
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
eye 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
defender,
I puzzled,
some
twenty
years old
Perhaps a
Armed
Forces
troop
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."
"Its
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 sisters
and
brothers
who stand
at the
front
against
any and
all,
To insure
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."
~ Author
Unknown~
|
