A Christmas Poem

[Al B]

Its funny how things end up in your email inbox. I'm not sure how this got to me, but I thought I would share it. I had not read this poem before so hopefully it will also be new to some of the INGO clan.

Merry Christmas my friends
Al

[FONT=&quot]A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM - VERY APPROPRIATE[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Transforming the yard to a winter delight.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear..[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]And I crept to the door just to see who was near.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here![/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]To the window that danced with a warm fire's light[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]That separates you from the darkest of times.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]No one had to ask or beg or implore me,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]remembers."[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]And now it is my turn and so, here I am.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I've not seen my own son in more than a while,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]smile..[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]The red, white, and blue... an American flag.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I can live through the cold and the being alone,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Away from my family, my house and my home.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I can carry the weight of killing another,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Who stand at the front against any and all,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.."[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]It seems all too little for all that you've done,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]For being away from your wife and your son."[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]To stand your own watch, no matter how long.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]For when we come home, either standing or dead,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]To know you remember we fought and we bled.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]U.S service men and women for our being able to[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]celebrate these[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]festivities.. Let's try in this small way to pay a[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]tiny bit of what we owe. Make people[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]sacrificed themselves for us.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]30th Naval Construction Regiment[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]OIC, Logistics Cell One[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Al Taqqadum, Iraq[/FONT]​

 

[Mgderf]

DUPE

IBTL

 

[HandK]

Yeb! Dube of a dube of a Dupe, IBTL