THE AMERICAN FLAG

When freedom from her mountain height
Unfurled her standard to the air,
She tore the azure robe of night,
And set the stars of glory there.
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure celestial white,
With streakings of the morning light;
Then from his mansion in the sun
She called her eagle bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand,
The symbol of her chosen land.

Joseph Rodman Drake
(1795-1820)
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THE FLAG GOES BY

Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash 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.

Hats off!
The flag is passing by!

Henry Holcomb Bennett
(1863-1924)
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THE OLD FLAG

Off with your hat as the flag goes by!
And let the heart have it say;
You're man enough for a tear in your eye
That you will never wipe away.

You're man enough for a thrill that goes
To your very finger-tips--
     Ay! the lump just then in your throat that rose     
Spoke more than your parted lips.

Lift up the boy on your shoulder high,
And show him the faded shred;
Those stripes would be red as the sunset sky
If death could have dyed them red.

Off with your hat as the flag goes by!
Uncover the youngster's head;
Teach him to hold it holy and high
For the sake of its sacred dead.

H.C. Bunner
(1855-1896)
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