Thursday, December 30, 2010

A SOLDIER'S CHRISTMAS, by Nona Kelley Carver

Please welcome poet Nona Kelley Carver, who shares her poetry about Christmas for our soldiers serving away from family.

A Soldier's Christmas 
*
A lonely
soldier far from home,
in his heart feels sad tonight.
I know he longs for his family,
but none of them are in sight.
In his grief he may shed a salty tear,
and wipe it away with his sleeve,
For memory reminds him in a certain way
that this is Christmas Eve.
Now his mind drifts back to a bygone time
when he was just a lad,
When he learned of the birth of the Christ Child
from a loving mom and dad.
How they showed him the Christmas Star in the east,
and told him how angels sang.
And it seems so very long ago, when no echo of bullets rang.
He remembered the crèche that they set in place there under the Christmas tree.
And how the sweet baby Jesus was a gift of love that lasts through eternity.
He prays that God will hold him close and restore the world to peace;
That sometime soon this war will end and the shelling and killing cease.
But tonight in his bunker he will watch and a resolute vigil keep
So those at home in the USA will be safe and have restful sleep.
Through the winter snows when the cold wind blows,
his valor is strong and true,
And truly he’s proud he volunteered to defend
the land of the red, white and blue.
Now he thinks again of the Christ Child
who was born to die on a cross,
And this matchless gift
gave his heart a lift
and he felt less sense of loss.
Soft as a velvet whisper’s hush the soldier began to sing
"God Bless America." May her freedom ever ring!
 
© 2004 Nona Kelley Carver
Used with permission given by Nona Kelley Carver
http://www.cowboypoetry.com/nonakcarver.htm


A Soldier’s Christmas

5 comments:

  1. Nona, thank you for sharing your poem. Lovely thoughts well expressed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nona, I enjoyed your poem. Thank you for sharing. I'm sure this has helped many families.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Nona:

    I was away form home on Christmas three times while I was in the military. I would have enjoyed reading your poem on one of those cold December nights. Thanks for sharing. Also, I would enjoy seeing you write a Christmas poem for the military nurses. The nurses are a special group of angles!

    Vince

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nona, thank you for this lovely poem, a real tribute not only to our soldier on the field and away from home, but to the Christ child who was born on this night.
    Caroline--I appreciate your posting this. Very appropriate. Celia

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nna

    what a beautiful peom, thanks so much for sharing it with us!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting Sweethearts of the West! We are very sad to require comment moderation now due to the actions of a few spam comments. Thank you for your patience.