redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted December 18, 2003 03:33 PM
 Edited By: redelk on 18 Dec 2003 15:39
OT - Be thankful this Christmas
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 Man, 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."
To the fine men and women who serve this great nation in both times of peace and of war...
I salute you... I thank you... I pray for your safe return... and I will never forget you.
God Bless.
I posted this last Christmas...
http://www.bikeland.org/board/viewthread.php?FID=1&TID=5631
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
   
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necro
Needs a job
My Grandma Is A Virgin
Posts: 2148
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posted December 18, 2003 05:56 PM
Edited By: necro on 18 Dec 2003 20:07
I clicked on the link inside this thread because I though that there would be a reply from ZHooligan. Sure enough there it was...
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3829
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bikelover
Novice Class
Posts: 64
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posted December 18, 2003 07:09 PM
Amen and Amen.
Great job Sherm.
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ozzy
Needs a job
need guberment cheese
Posts: 3172
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posted December 18, 2003 07:20 PM
What Red said goes for me too!
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slug
Pro
Out in search of my mind...
Posts: 1433
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posted December 19, 2003 04:28 AM
Red: thank you for reminding :-)
Have a great holiday out there folks, see some family, remember those who are in a huge sandbox.
and for heaven's sakes don't let hillary go over there again ;P
  
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Dino
Pro
Posts: 1422
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posted December 19, 2003 06:45 AM
Well done Red.
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uh oh
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Hells Dark Lord
Needs a life
living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted December 20, 2003 05:53 AM
brings up some pretty serious memories for me....I went back and read last years thread....Thanks Sherm for posting that again this year, and I hope you make it a yearly traditon. I just wish we had all of our tropps home so that they could be with their families this holiday season...but that will never be the case, there are always soldiers missing the holidays, it has to be that way....this time last years we were wondering when we were going across the border into Iraq. March 21, 2004 will mark the first year of us Being in Iraq...it took us 9 months to find Saddam. I wonder how long it will take for us to get that country ready to run its self so we can bring our boys and girls back home?
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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