[Rhodes22-list] Fw: A Different Christmas Poem
Claude Cox
ccc974 at comcast.net
Fri Nov 28 10:59:54 EST 2008
glad you enjoyed it, elle.
Claude
----- Original Message -----
From: "elle" <watermusic38 at yahoo.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 12:43 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Fw: A Different Christmas Poem
> Thank you, Claude.
>
> elle
>
> We can't change the angle of the wind....but we can adjust our sails.
>
> 1992 Rhodes 22 Recyc '06 "WaterMusic" (Lady in Red)
>
>
> --- On Wed, 11/26/08, Claude Cox <ccc974 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> From: Claude Cox <ccc974 at comcast.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Fw: A Different Christmas Poem
>> To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Date: Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 11:58 AM
>> 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
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> -------------- next part --------------
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