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
'It's 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 stands 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.'