[Rhodes22-list] Fw: A Different Christmas Poem

[elle]

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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