Mountain Wings
Christmas in The Dust
=================
I had no Christmas spirit
when I breathed a weary sigh,
And looked across the table
where the bills were piled too high.
…
The laundry wasn’t finished
and the car I had to fix,
My stocks were down another point,
the Dolphins lost by six.
…
And so with only minutes
till my son got home from school
I gave up on the drudgery
and grabbed a wooden stool.…
The burdens that I carried
were about all that I could take,
And so I flipped the TV on
to catch a little break.…I came upon a desert scene
in shades of tan and rust,
No snowflakes hung upon the wind,
just clouds of swirling dust.…And where the reindeer should have stood
before a laden sleigh,
Eight Hummers ran a column
right behind an M1A.…
A group of boys walked past the tank,
not one was past his teens.
Their eyes were hard as polished flint,
their faces drawn and lean.
…
They walked the street in armor
with their rifles shouldered tight,
Their dearest wish for Christmas,
just to have a silent night.
…
Other soldiers gathered,
hunkered down against the wind,
To share a scrap of mail and dreams
of going home again.
…
There wasn’t much at all
to put their lonely hearts at ease,
They had no Christmas turkey,
just a pack of MREs.
…
They didn’t have a garland
or a stocking I could see,
They didn’t need an ornament
they lacked a Christmas Tree.
…
They didn’t have a present
even though it was tradition,
the only boxes I could see
were labeled “ammunition.”
…
I felt a little tug
and found my son now by my side,
He asked me what it was I feared,
and why it was I cried.
…
I swept him up into my arms
and held him oh so near
and kissed him on the forehead
as I whispered in his ear.
…
There’s nothing wrong my little son,
for safe we sleep tonight,
Our heroes stand on foreign land
to give us all the right,
…
To worry on the things in life
that mean nothing at all,
Instead of wondering if we
will be the next to fall.
…
He looked at me as children do
and said it’s always right,
to thank the ones who help us
and perhaps that we should write.
…
And so we pushed aside the bills
and sat to draft a note,
to thank the many far from home,
and this is what we wrote:
…
God Bless You all and keep you safe,
and speed your way back home.
Remember that we love you so,
and that you’re not alone.
…
The gift you give you share with all,
a present every day,
You give the gift of liberty
and that we can’t repay.
~Author Unknown~
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