I hope I won't be considered a bumptious jingoist for this diary. Perhaps I am though. When I was a youth in the late 1950s and early 60s, we went through considerable flag-drill and patriotic indoctrination in public school. I have never gotten over this, nor have I ever wanted to. Pride in our country and respect for our best traditions is what drives me and many of my generation to political activism, and always has.
I love our flag. For over two centuries this flag has stood for independence, liberty, justice, democracy, excellence, and the rule of law. My father and grandfather and my brother served under it proudly. I think, and hope, that despite the tarnish on our nation's reputation occasioned by the present regime, our flag is untarnished, and that sight of the glorious Stars and Stripes still means those things to many people around the world as well as here in America, my beloved land.
Flag Day Poems
The American Flag
Joseph Rodman Drake
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,
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.
O Flag of Our Union
*A poem taught in American classrooms many years ago.
O flag of our Union,
To you we'll be true,
To your red and white stripes,
And your stars on the blue;
The emblem of freedom,
The symbol of right,
We children salute you,
O flag fair and bright!
HAIL COLUMBIA, HAPPY LAND!
Hail Columbia! happy land! hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band!
Who faught and bled in Freedom's cause,
Who faught and bled in Freedom's cause,
And when the storm of war was gone, enjoyed the peace your valor won.
Let independence be our boast, ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize, let its alter reach the skies.
Firm united let us be, rallying round our liberty;
As a band of brothers joined, peace and safety we shall find.
Immortal patriots, rise once more, defend your rights, defend your shore.
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies, of toil & blood the well-earned prize.
While offering peace sincere and just, in heaven we place a manly trust.
That truth and justice will prevail, and every scheme of bondage fail.
Firm united let us be, &c.
Sound, sound the the trump of fame! let WASHINGTON'S great name
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Ring through the world with loud applause;
Let every clime to Freedom dear, listen with a joyful ear.
With equal skill and god-like power, he govern'd in the fearful hour
Of horrid war! or guides, with ease, the happier times of honest peace.
Firm united let us be, &c