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11-28-2007, 09:24 AM
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Age: 41
Stats: 5'9", 161 lbs
Posts: 124
BodyPoints: 10771
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A Different Christmas Poem
I got this today and wanted to share it with all of you:
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,
B ut 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.'
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11-28-2007, 09:29 AM
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#2
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Squat More
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Port Angeles, Washington, United States
Age: 40
Stats: 5'7", 196 lbs
Posts: 1,097
BodyBlog Entries: 0
BodyPoints: 6592
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Man, that choked me up. Thanks for sharing.
God bless our troops, bring them home safely.
Semper Fi
__________________
Lift big, eat large, get huge! Kaz quote
R.I.P. Jesse Marunde "Squat More!"
R.I.P. PAPD Officer Brian Raymond #423
Gone but never forgotten
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11-28-2007, 10:14 AM
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: San Angelo, Texas, United States
Age: 33
Stats: 5'4", 125 lbs
Posts: 5,747
BodyPoints: 41212
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I love that...thanks for sharing.
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11-28-2007, 01:20 PM
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#4
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"Charlie don't surf!"
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Ohio, United States
Age: 52
Stats: 5'6", 148 lbs
Posts: 951
BodyPoints: 15596
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wow...................................
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"Perhaps I am stronger than I think."
-Thomas Merton
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11-28-2007, 02:46 PM
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: United Kingdom (Great Britain)
Age: 43
Stats: 6'1", 162 lbs
Posts: 1,202
BodyPoints: 4768
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So easy to forget that our freedom is only achieved by the sacrifice of others....
thanks for posting
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THERE AINT NO CAN'T......
Micky, Rocky II
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11-28-2007, 07:47 PM
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: New York, New York, United States
Age: 50
Posts: 788
BodyPoints: 5219
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Very good poem !
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www.homefitness101.com
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11-28-2007, 07:52 PM
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#7
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Dragonslayer in Training
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: United States
Age: 45
Stats: 6'1", 246 lbs
Posts: 1,479
BodyBlog Entries: 0
BodyPoints: 3709
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Amen
__________________
Mongol General: What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
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11-29-2007, 04:56 AM
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#8
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MOTIVATED
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Virginia, United States
Age: 46
Stats: 5'4", 169 lbs
Posts: 926
BodyPoints: 2781
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good stuff
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MILITARY RETIRED
NYY, NYG, NYR hometown fan - no matter where I move.
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11-29-2007, 05:06 AM
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Tampa, Florida, United States
Age: 35
Stats: 5'7", 185 lbs
Posts: 1,203
BodyBlog Entries: 0
BodyPoints: 10819
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yut!
Semper Fi
__________________
**************************
WHY MUST BALLYs "PERSONAL TRAINERS" BE SO STUPID?
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11-29-2007, 05:24 AM
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Pittsburgh,Pa.
Age: 54
Posts: 995
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That really hit home...thanks...Semper Fi!
__________________
A coward dies many deaths, a Soldier dies one.
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