JOSHUA TIME 655

A Christmas Poem>>Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 13:58:27 -0500>>>>>>>>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.>> _________________________________________________________________