[Rhodes22-list] Fw: A Different Christmas Poem

[Claude Cox]

glad it got through the second time.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hank" <hnw555 at gmail.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Fw: A Different Christmas Poem


> Very nice, Claude.  I'll be forwarding it to a number of folks.
>
> Hank
>
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 7:32 PM, Claude Cox <ccc974 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> Hank,
>>
>> Sorry about that....I'll send it again.  If you don't get it this time, 
>> my
>> guess is that my IP (Comcast) stripped it because it is a pretty long
>> file--full-page pic, and considerable script.  Hope it works this time.
>>
>> Claude
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Marshall and Anne McLaughlin
>> To: Jane Ball ; Tmk9r at aol.com ; Ann and Bill Robertson ; Nancy Cox ;
>> Claude Cox ; Susan Callaway ; Trish Bolton ; Bob Messner
>> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 5:55 PM
>> Subject: Fw: A Different Christmas Poem
>>
>>
>> this is very moving...Anne
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Phillip Griffin
>> To: 'Angela Pollock'
>> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 5:37 PM
>> Subject: FW: A Different Christmas 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."
>>
>>  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.
>>
>>  LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
>>  30th Naval Construction Regiment
>>  OIC, Logistics Cell One
>>  Al Taqqadum, Iraq
>>
>>
>>
>>
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