Poems (Kennedy)/The Flag in The Church

by Sara Beaumont Kennedy

THE FLAG IN THE CHURCH

DOWN the wide aisle, with measured tread,
 The white-robed singers stepped,
And up to rafters lost in gloom
 The pealing music swept.
The Cross of Christ led on before
 High up, where all could see,
And close behind in rippled waves
 The flag of Liberty.

Up to the altar rails they went,
 Those emblems, side by side—
Our pledge of faith to Calvary,
 Our country's symbolled pride.
And instantly a vision came
 Through centuries of night
When red Crusaders strove with Turks
 And won the furious fight,

And in the captured city set—
 Before the altars there—
Their standards stained with Moslem blood,
 And bent their heads in prayer.
Their mailed knees touched the rugged stones,
 Then swords flashed bright and high,
"Our banner and the Crucifix!"
 Went up their battle cry.

They have been comrades since that time;
 Through all the centuries
The flag has battled for the Cross
 In earth's Gethsemanes.
And so we set them side by side
 Where God's own angels throng,
The Cross above the unfurled flag,
 Baptized with glorious song.