Submitted by: J. R. Elliott

Category: Poetry

My Flag
J. R. Elliott – Wash, PA

Thirteen red and white alternating bars
Blue background with 50 snow white stars
Cut from a cloth dyed by a soldiers’ blood
Streaked with the pain of Valley Forge mud
Carried to the coast by settlers going west
Displayed with pride on a sheriff’s vest
Wounded by a brother dressed in southern grey
10,000 patriots fell over Gettysburg way
Road with Teddy up San Juan Hill
Rose from the trenches to break a Kaiser’s will
Was flying on Sunday when an emperor picked a fight
Picked up a nation with an Iwo Jima flight
Fought side by side with the Union Jack
To halt a dictator’s genocidal attack
Marched up a peninsula to push back some red
Still troops the line to keep promises said
Spent 10,000 days in the jungles of Nam
Wept for the lost at the fall of Saigon
Wiped away firefighter’s tears at the loss of a tower
Streamed on a radio antenna as an Abrams Flexed its power
Leads the procession both sad & proud
With bugles low or drums playing loud
Hung on a porch with a parents pride
Given to a loved one at a graveside
Lifts fans to their feet before the start
As they sing our song hands over heart
It the land of freedom you don’t have to toe the line
But don’t try to hurt this flag of mine

About the author:

J. R. Elliott, Wash, PA