  (Tomorrow, June 14, is Flag Day in the United States.) 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 the gorgeous dyes The milky baldric of the skies, And striped its pure celestial white With streaklings of the morning light; Then from his mansion in the sun She called her eagle to bear down, And gave into his mighty hand The symbol of her chosen land. Majestic monarch of the cloud, Who rear'st aloft thy regal form To hear the tempest trumpings loud And see the lightning lances driven, When strive the warriors of the storm And rolls the thunder drum of heaven; Child of the sun, to thee 'tis given To guard the banner of the free, To hover in the sulphur smoke, To ward away the battle stroke, And bid its blendings shine afar, Like rainbows on the cloud of war, The harbingers of Victory. Flag of the brave, thy folds shall fly, The sigh of hope and triumph high, When speaks the signal trumpet tone, And the long line comes gleaming on. Ere yet the life-blood, warm and wet, Has dimmed the glistening bayonet, Each soldier eye shall brightly turn To where thy sky-born glories burn, And as his springing steps advance, Catch war and vengeance from the glance; Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud, And gory sabres rise and fall, And cowering foes shall shrink beneath Each gallant arm that strikes below That lovely messenger of death. Flag of the seas, on oceans wave Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave; When death, careering in the gale, Sweeps darkly round the bellied sail, And frighted waves rush wildly back Before the broadside's reeling rack, Each dying wanderer of the sea Shall look at once to heaven and thee, And smile to see thy splendors fly In triumph o'er his closing eye. Flag of the free heart's hope and home, By angel hands to valor given, The stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy hues were born in heaven. Forever float that standard sheet! Where breathes a foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us? —Drake. |
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