OLD GLORY
Permission of the author
A group of stars on an azure field—
There the bond of the Union stands revealed;
With bars of red and bars of white,
That spurn the earth and seek the light—
'Tis the flag that men have died for!
That star-flecked banner marked the line
From Bunker Hill to Brandywine;
We fancy that its bars of red
Proclaim the blood our grandsires shed,
For this is the flag they died for!
It graced the heights of Monterey;
It fluttered at Manila Bay.
"The flag is there!" Thus ran the news
From Pekin and from Vera Cruz—
And this is the flag they died for!
Blow on o'er land; blow on o'er sea,
O starlit banner of the free;
Though foes abound and tyrants rave,
Blow on, O banner of the brave!
And this is the flag we'll die for.
