Christmas Poems

From my book Old Jarhead Poems available on Amazon (Royalties to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund)

A Veteran’s Christmas Wish

Each year when Christmas comes around again,

I pause on Christmas Eve to take a dram

Of whisky, and I think of absent friends,

And Christmas in a place called Vietnam.

I think of boys who never had the chance

To see their kids on Christmas Eve at play,

Their lives were spent that freedom might advance,

From Valley Forge right up through yesterday.

They fell at Belleau Wood and Normandy,

At Gettysburg, at Iwo and at Hue,

They gave their lives to keep our people free,

And never saw another Christmas Day.

So take a moment from your festive joys,

To think of soldiers who were young and true,

And say a prayer on Christmas Eve for boys

Who gave up all their Christmases for you.

Robert A. Hall

Former SSgt, USMC

           

Spell check notes: Scotch whisky has no “e.”

Hue (Vietnam) is pronounced “way.”

The Christmas Gift

There is a gift that comes

From those out on the lines,

It is not wrapped in bows,

But, oh, how bright it shines.

There is a Christmas gift,

A pearl beyond all price,

From those who ask for naught,

But make the sacrifice.

They risk their blood and bone

On endless weary tours,

For that is all that keeps

The evil from our shores.

You worship as you will,

You freely have your say,

And all that is a gift

From sentries far away.

There is a gift that comes

From troops who guard the line,

That lets us live in peace

And joy at Christmastime.

We say “Support the troops,”

But hardly pause to think

What honor really means,

Or how near looms the brink.

There is a Christmas gift

From those who hold the line,

And you and I, my friend,

Get nothing more sublime.

            Robert A. Hall

            Former SSgt, USMC