THE MEANING OF THE FLAG

August 3, 1995

By Robert Michael Marlett

Oft times I stop in wonder
At some things that men think great.
For often times an inert mass
Can stir both love and hate.
Yesterday I saw an item
That I've often seen before.
Though it's often brought me mem'ries
This time it brought something more.

Some people hardly know it-
Wouldn't know for what it stands.
Others spite its mere existence
While others say it's grand.

So I watched it for a moment
All it was, was just a rag.
But the blood of brave men bought it
So it proudly waves -- a flag.

Just what is a flag, I questioned.
Why is it a special cloth?
What makes it get close attention
And get kept from mold and moth?

Of itself, it seems so lifeless
But I've seen the old men cry
As they stand up at attention
As it passes slowly by.

So it must have certain meaning
To so touch their wizened hearts.
For this cloth of just three colors
Must have other, living parts.

Then I saw a child looking
Full of wonder, pride and awe.
Somehow he knew of its purpose,
And I wondered what he saw.

So I asked him of his vision
He looked startled, and aghast.
But when pride o'erran suspicion
He told of his flag at last.

"When I look", he started slowly,
"Guess it ain't the flag I see.
It's the battle of New Orleans
By the river and the sea.

I see men with rifles shooting,
In the woods of Valley Forge,
And the soldiers at attention
For inspection by Old George.

"Then I think about the cannons
Shooting men and horses down;
And the crossing of the river,
Where the frozen people drowned.

"Then I think 'bout all the army
Fighting 'gainst each other there
How they fought for freedom bravely -
Boy, the stories raise my hair!"

So I looked up at the standard
As the breeze unfurled its cloth,
And I saw how it hung proudly
Undeterred by age or moth.

It's a symbol of the battles
Fought by brave and valiant men.
Surely, this is simple bloodthirst!
Why such fired emotions, then?

Again I saw an older gent
And soon he shed a tear.
When I asked him of his sorrow
And its reason, he said, "Fear."

"Fear the past won't be the future,
That she'll never be the same;
For the way she stands at present,
She disgraces her own name."

So I pointed to the flagpole
And I asked, "What do you see?"
Then his eyes closed for a moment
But he softly answered me.

"I see my blessed mother
In her torn and tattered clothes
Pointing to a ship for sailing,
Saying, 'Take me when it goes.'

"At the landing then I see her
Barely she could speak a word,
But she'd gotten to America,
The land of which she'd heard.

"She didn't have a dollar,
But somebody gave her food.
Till she found a job at sewing,
And a place to stay, for good.

"Though she came a lonely orphan
Soon she owned a shop and house,
And half the girls in Boston
Had her name inside their blouse.

That flag, it is a picture
Of free opportunity.
So in answer to your question,
I see family history."

So I thought on both the answers
I had gotten to my quest.
One from aged years of wisdom
One from pride and youth and zest.

But they held no common factor
Save the place where they occurred,
And I couldn't understand the flag
From all the facts I'd heard.

An old man says it's family,
While a child thinks of a war;
So to find a better answer
I proposed to ask some more.

"Dear Sir, if you've a moment
Could you talk to an old man?
I've a question of your standard,
For I do not understand."

He seemed well dressed, this fellow
(Though all green was rather odd)
And he said, "I'm glad you asked me."
While his son screamed, "My name's Todd!"

Then he spoke about democracy -
How common people rule
Instead of being bossed about
By any "Royal Fool."

He spoke of private enterprise
Of pride in what you do,
And he said, "That flag stands for
The common man, like you."

And so I asked, "What do you see
When you gaze upon its thread?"
And when he turned to face it,
Love across his face did spread.

He said, "Responsibility
To serve and to uphold,
To still preserve her freedom -
Keep her as in days of old.

"But I see it in another form
Than some folk do, I guess.
It looks a lot like Viet Nam -
A bloody, nasty mess.

"You see, if I'm not careful,
And don't vote for honest men,
There'll be another battle,
And we'll mess it up again.

"I watched my brother tumble
From the sky with smoking trail;
I've seen the many others
Who came home, though lame and frail.

"I've been inside the prison camp,
And I still feel the fears.
Forgive me, sir, but that's my flag,
And it still brings me tears.

"But I guess what I really see
Is principle and plan
That says there's priceless value
In each common, lowly man."

"But," I said, "you value life -
and yet, brag that you fought?"
He said, "Indeed, I killed, it's true,
But many lives were bought.

"You see, we lost that war indeed,
But other times we've won,
And brutal leaders fear that flag
Because of what was done.

"When murderers fear justice,
They don't kill men as they would,
So though we lost in Viet Nam,
It did all China good."

Scarce could I comprehend it,
For it meant so many things,
Though all it was, within itself,
Was colored bits of strings.

And so I thanked him for his time
And told young Todd goodbye.
But Todd stared at the standard,
And tears dropped from his eye.

And he said, "Daddy, can't I go
Like you, and fight a war?"
His Dad bent down and said, "Depends
On what you're fighting for!"

His answer was so simple
As his little voice let ring,
And he said that the flag
Was worth "just everything!"

But then he said in somber tone
What made my heart to stall:
"That flag - it stands for justice
And for liberty for all."

From him I finally understood
The truth I'd searched long for,
And since that day its colors bright
Have meant to me far more.

The battles and the flowing blood,
The mother's working hours,
The way the system rules itself
To stay all straying pow'rs.

It all made sense so suddenly!
As thus he spoke to me,
But then he said best of all
With an old melody.

That flag was not a piece of thread
It was the land itself!
And as he sang this ancient verse
I had to join myself:

"America, America, God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control
Thy liberty in law!
America, America, God shed his grace on thee,
and crown thy good in brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea!"

Copyright RobRymz 1995

http://www.wilderness-cry.com/rmarlett/meaningoftheflag.html