The Soldier
Outside My Door
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 eye 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"
"Its 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 sisters
and brothers
who stand at the front against any
and all,
To insure 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 .
No matter the season or time of
year..
No matter the holiday when families
draw near,
They stand their guard... they stand
their post,
For a country and families.. the
ones they love most.
So remember them each, when you
kneel in prayer,
For every day.. they will be
standing there.
Pray for our troops.. everywhere
God Bless them! ....
