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Christmas at the Korean DMZ |
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�Twas the night before Christmas,
When all through
the base
Activity was heavy, at a rapid pace;
Santa is coming but what do we care,
We all have an
ambush we have to share.
The claymores are nestled all
snug in there beds,
While wishes for heaters dance in our
heads
Silence is broken, by a rustling sound,
Radio dead, starlight out, trigger I pound,
When out in
the zone there arose such a clatter
Dreams of an early
return have just been shattered.
�Cease fire, cease
fire' the patrol leader had yelled
Long wait till
daylight to see what we felled
First light on the breast
of the new-fallen snow
Gave break from the darkness the
night did know
When, what to my wondering eyes should
appear
A barren kill zone and one dead deer.
With
little sound we leave at a good pace
We all know to well
we'd be teased back at base.
More rapid than eagles,
word of our new fame,
And they whistled, and shouted, and
called us by name:
�Now, DASHER! Now, DANCER! Now,
PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! On, CUPID! On, DONDER and
BLITZEN!'
The battalion was happy; all in good cheer.
We'd blown our load, and killed a deer.
As feces that
travel in toilet go down,
We sulk back to the barracks,
eyes on the ground
So this Christmas each of us truly
knew,
Would be long and definitely blue.
In the depths
of depression, not any hope
That this Christmas I would
not be the dope.
As the sun climbed high, my
salvation appeared
Some one had shot the barrel, everyone
cheered.
He was dressed all in white, from his head to
his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with mud and
soot;
His droll little mouth was drawn up in a pout,
And the hair on his head had long since fallen out;
The
stump of a cigar held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke,
it encircled his head like a wreath
A bulky green
alice had flung on his back,
And he look like the
sergeant major not giving slack.
His eyes, how they
twinkled! His grimace how scary!
His cheeks were like
roses, his nose like a cherry!
He had a broad face
and his voice held command
We normally respected and
followed demand.
He walked from the cheers showing he
still has his pride,
And I smiled when I saw him, drying
the tears cried.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his
head,
He had intended to fill the barrel with lead,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a
nod, respect for us he shows;
Entered his office, to
the staff gave a look,
away he did walk, the mess hall to
see the cook
But I heard him exclaim, ere he slipped out
of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good
night." |
By Mark I. Kirkmeyer
Copyright 2001
Listed
August 3, 2012 |
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About
Author...
Mark Kirkmeyer served as a Light Weapons/Medical Specialist in the U.S. Army (1983-88), the U.S. Army Reserve (1988-1992), and the California National Guard (1992-1995). He is Gulf War Veteran (1991) and served in Korea (1986-87).It is illegal to
use this poem without the author's permission.
~~ Send your comments and/or use permission request to
Mark I. Kirkmeyer ~~ |
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