•American Flag
•By
•Alfred W. Tatum
•February 11, 2012
•
•“Oh, say can you see”
•There trapped in the flapping stripes
•Crimson flowing from cracked fingernails
•Trying to grip the words of Jefferson
•
•But the southerly winds of Baltimore
•Rips through the stars, swatting a few more away
•Young Bodies flung back toward the Atlantic
•To join their kindred spirits
•Near the ocean’s floor
•
•By the dawn’s early light
•What so proudly we held
•Holding on to the white stars
•In the northwestern corner
•Burning through the flesh
•Of those orphan hands who saw the glimmer of light
•Now fading as they black out
•And the hope of Lincoln and Roosevelt dims
•Through the perilous fight
•As the bombs and bullets burst through the air
•Shattering American democracy
•That maims son and daughters of this republic
•in the playgrounds of Chicago and in kindergarten classrooms
•in our safest neighbors
•
•Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
•Held by hands
•Tired hands
•Hands that found energy
•As they clasped
•To save a young nation
•Open to fresh wounds
•That they knew would heal
•
•The flag still stands
•So must we.
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