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