Submitted by Kathy McDonald Corey
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 and started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
So 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 there,
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
