A Soldier's Night Before Christmas

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO, IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE.
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I’D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN’T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
“SANTA DON’T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON’T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.”

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN’T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT’S CHILL.

I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, “CARRY ON SANTA, IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.”

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.”

Remember

Steel birds tore through the sky,

Carrying loved ones of you and I.

Twin towers standing tall,

Too strong, we thought, to ever fall.

Those birds of prey broke our hearts

As we watched our world fall apart.

Steel wings cut through flesh and bone

But could not destroy our soul.

More targets, more lives,

The toll still untold.

Overwhelming fear and heartache

Filled every home.

Remember those who were lost.

Fight for those memories at any cost.

Remember freedom as it rings loud.

Remember freedom and stand proud.

Sadness and confusion give way,

Keep faith in a new day.

We will find the nest from which those birds came,

Tear them down without shame.

Our hearts are filled to burst

With love for all those hurt.

Together as a nation, a world, we stand tall.

We will move past the horror we saw.

Remember those who were lost.

Fight for those memories at any cost.

Remember freedom as it rings loud.

Remember freedom and stand proud.

September 11th through the eyes of the Statue of Liberty

A single tear rolled down my cheek as I watched the scene that would change America forever. No longer would her people be able to walk down the streets unafraid. No longer would they be able to travel the globe freely. Soon they would look upon foreigners with distrust and prejudge many based on apearance. One great nation was being attacked. This attack on the American freedoms was felt most greatly by me.

“Why me?” you might ask. I was standing in New York Harbor when the first plane struck, and I was still there when the second plane disappeared into tower number two of the World Trade Center. I watched in horror as the two towers fell. My heart ached at the senseless loss of lives. I knew that this event would become part of America’s great history. I wanted so much to go and help those people, but for the body of water separating us, I could not.

Suddenly, I became aware of a tugging. It became a tug of war between good and evil! Unseen hands were trying to rip that precious Declaration of Independence from my grasp! I clung to it with all my strength and pressed it close to my heart. “No!” I cried.

I was hugging it to my heart! The broken chains about my feet were closing in once again to lock me into bondage, but some unseen force of patriotism was saving me, and keeping the chains fallen away. A breath of hateful wind caused my flame, my eternal flame, to flicker, but only for a moment. The dust from the crumbling towers was trying to snuff out the flame in defeat. But again an unseen act of unity or maybe the American spirit rekindled that light. Such an attack on our great nation, and me, must not go unpunished! Evil must not have its way. America must fight back when she realizes this was no accident. We must be united as one to defeat this great foe.

My crown began tingling, as I felt the eyes of the world on me. The world, holding its breath, was waiting, watching, andwondering. “Will this great nation rise again?”

“Yes! She will!” was my triumphant reply.

"Give me your tired, your poor, wour huddlede masses yearning to breath free; send those, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me; I lift my lam beside the golden door."

For at that moment President Bush was standing a-top the rubble at Ground Zero saying, “The people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon.”

“U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.!” was the chant screaming its way through all of America. Her people, as one, came together to support and defend their freedoms! They were not going to allow these terrorists to destroy the land that they loved. “God Bless America!” was their unanimous cry. These Americans were not going to turn the other cheek. They were going to defeat terrorism and defend those gripped by it.

Dear fellow Americans,

Today, I am still standing here proudly in New York Harbor, reflecting and remembering the events that once shook America six years ago. May we never forget September 11, 2001. May that anger of being attacked burn in our hearts until terrorism is snuffed out forever. May we never forget the freedoms given to us by God and fought for by our forefathers. May we defend and protect these freedoms with all of our strength and all of our might. Never forget, my America, that day, September 11, 2001.

Yours Truly,

“The First Lady of the World”
Lady Liberty