[Loch-Ruadh] Just wanted to share, what with the holydays just around the corner

[Pádraig Ruad Ó Maolagáin]

This one's going to my brother, not long back from Iraq.  Thanks for
sharing it, Connie.

Padraig
-- 
Nunc est bibendum.
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Politicians prefer unarmed peasants.

CL Nurmi wrote:
>                       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