🚀 go-pugleaf

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.



WE ALL NEED TO PRAY FOR OUR MILITARY PERSONNEL EVERY NIGHT!
-- 
"But to live outside the law, you must be honest"
Bob Dylan - Absolutely Sweet Marie - 1966