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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, 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."
"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."
Michael Marks
http://www.iwvpa.net/marksm
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