In a small box, in amongst the bows and bells
of holiday joy,
there lies the envelope.
Weathered with age, its edges worn
almost through from the years of
chaffing against the sides of the box.

It is not the condition of the envelope
which is important,
not its simple contents, but rather the single memory,
from among all the Christmas memories
from all the Christmas's past,that it bears.

In the envelope,
a single sheet of paper, yellow paper,
the kind they use in schools, with the blue-green lines across it.
The yellow is now faded almost to a pale maise and the blue-green
is nearly gone as well.
The blue-black ink, once so bold,
now is paled but still quite clear.
The handwriting,
unchanged in the thirty years since it was first penned.


The paper unfolds twice, and is nearly
worn through at the folds.
A small paper Christmas ornament,
with matching creases and a pipecleaner hanger,
its glittery greeting nearly all worn off,
falls from between the creases as the letter opens.

As I gaze upon the words,
The tears are nearly the same as they
were the first time I saw the letter
in December, 1969.

The envelope is simply addressed:
"Soldier, US Armed Forces, VietNam."
The letter still means as much today as it did then,
if not more.

Of all the letters I recieved from friends and family
while in the service of our country,
this is the only one which I have kept.
 

- It reads:

Dear Soldier,
My name is Maryanne Taylor.
I am in the fourth grade at Our Lady of Lourdes School.
Our class is sending a lot of letters to you so you will have somethings to read at Christmas.
We are sending ornaments we made too.
Mine is the blue one.
I don't know where you are in VietNam but maybe you know my brother Donald Taylor.
He is a Corporal with the Third Marine Division.
I write to him all the time.
He writes to me too.
If you see him can you tell him
mom and me are ok and that we miss him?
We are getting ready for lunch now
and Sr. Mary Monica says we need to put this in the envelope to send.
Good bye.

Merry Christmas

Marryanne Taylor