[GCARC] DIFFERENT HOLIDAY POEmerry christmas to one and all

[Thomas F Cusack]

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> Subject: Fw: A DIFFERENT HOLIDAY POEM
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> I received this
> Christmas Poem in 2009 and believe it is as poignant today
> as it was then. 
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> Please think of all
> of our Military serving us abroad, in harm’s way, and here
> in the US. 
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> They deserve our
> Support, Respect, and Prayers. 
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> The
> embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
> 
> I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
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> My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
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> My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
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> Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
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> Transforming the yard to a winter delight. 
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> The
> sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
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> Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
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> My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
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> Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
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> In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
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> So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. 
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> The
> sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
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> But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear..
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> Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
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> sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
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> My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
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> And I crept to the door just to see who was
> near. 
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> Standing
> out in the cold and the dark of the night,
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> A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
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> A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
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> Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
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> Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
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> Standing watch over me, and my wife and my
> child. 
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> "What
> are you doing?" I asked without fear,
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> "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
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> Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
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> You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
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> For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
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> Away from the cold and the snow blown in
> drifts.. 
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> To the
> window that danced with a warm fire's light
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> Then he sighed and he said "It’s really all right,
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> I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
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> "It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
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> That separates you from the darkest of times. 
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> No one
> had to ask or beg or implore me,
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> I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
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> My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
> 
> Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram
> always remembers."
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> My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
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> And now it is my turn and so, here I am. 
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> I've
> not seen my own son in more than a while,
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> But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
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> Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
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> The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
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> I can live through the cold and the being alone,
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> Away from my family, my house and my home. 
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> I can
> stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
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> I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
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> I can carry the weight of killing another,
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> Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
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> Who stand at the front against any and all,
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> To ensure for all time that this flag will not
> fall.." 
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> " So
> go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
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> Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
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> "But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
> 
> "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a
> feast?
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> It seems all too little for all that you've done,
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> For being away from your wife and your
> son." 
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> Then his
> eye welled a tear that held no regret,
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> "Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
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> To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
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> To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
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> For when we come home, either standing or dead,
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> To know you remember we fought and we bled.
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> Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
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> That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."
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> 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.
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