The Flag is Passing By

 

The Flag Goes By

 

Hats off

Along the street there comes

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,

A flash of color beneath the sky:

    Hats off!

The flag is passing by!
 

Blue and crimson and white it shines,

Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.

     Hats off!

The colors before us fly;

But more than the flag is passing by.
 

Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,

Fought to make and to save the State:

Weary marches and sinking ships;

Cheers of victory on dying lips;
 

Days of plenty and years of peace;

March of a strong land’s swift increase;

Equal justice, right and law,

Stately honor and reverend awe;
 

Sign of a nation, great and strong

To ward her people from foreign wrong:

Pride and glory and honor,--all

Live in the colors to stand or fall.
           

   Hat’s off!

Along the street there comes

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;

And loyal hearts are beating high:

    Hats off!

The Flag is passing by!
 

 -- Henry Holcomb Bennett

B. December 5, 1863 – D. April 30, 1924

American author, journalist and poet