Poetry Sunday

Two weeks ago, on, June 14th, we celebrated Flag Day here in the United States, commemorating the date in 1777 on which the Continental Congress adopted the flag of the United States with the words

“... the flag of the United States [shall] be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and “the union [shall] be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

Flag Day isn't celebrated as much as it used to be when I was young, a decline that probably began with the opposition to the war in Vietnam; the display of flags is nowadays more common on Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. I personally only fly my flag on those two dates because display of the flag has become a symbol of the ostentatious but empty patriotism of those who fly a flag the size of Wyoming from their pickup trucks, but decline to serve their country or honor its aspirations to justice and equality.

But all that having been said, let's strike up the band and remember this classic patriotic poem about our flag as a symbol of our aspirations ...

The Flag Goes By

by Henry Holcomb Bennett

Hats off!

Along the street there comes

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,

A dash of color beneath the sky:

Hats off!

The flag is passing by!

Blue and crimson and white it shines,

Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.

Hats off!

The colors before us fly;

But more than the flag is passing by.

Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,

Fought to make and to save the State:

Weary marches and sinking ships;

Cheers of victory on dying lips;

Days of plenty and years of peace;

March of a strong land's swift increase;

Equal justice, right and law,

Stately honor and reverend awe;

Sign of a nation, great and strong

To ward her people from foreign wrong:

Pride and glory and honor,--all

Live in the colors to stand or fall.

Hats off!

Along the street there comes

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;

And loyal hearts are beating high:

Hats off!

The flag is passing by!

The Stars and Stripes represent many things: not just the nation per se, but its ideals and those who serve their fellow citizens in the military and other ways. Hats off! - not just to a waving flag, but to all that it represents.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo