Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FLAG, by HENRY LYNDEN FLASH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FLAG, by                    
First Line: Up with the banner of the free!
Last Line: Beneath its steadfast stars.
Subject(s): Flags - United States; Spanish-american War (1898); American Flag


UP WITH the banner of the free!
Its stars and stripes unfurled!
And let the battle beauty blaze
Above a startled world.
No more around its towering staff
The folds shall twine again,
Till falls beneath its righteous wrath
The gonfalon of Spain.

That flag with constellated stars
Shines ever in the van!
And like the rainbow in the storm,
Presages peace to man.
For still amid the cannon's roar
It sanctifies the fight,
And flames along the battle lines,
The emblem of the Right.

It seeks no conquest, knows no fear;
Cares not for pomp or state;
As pliant as the atmosphere,
As resolute as Fate.
Where'er it floats, on land or sea,
No stain its honor mars,
And Freedom smiles, her fate secure,
Beneath its steadfast stars.





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