"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."
Thomas Jefferson
Sestina Americana
Blood red
Lily white
True blue
My stars
Racing stripes
Boys, rally ‘round the flag!
It is a grand old flag
Seven stripes of red
Six white stripes
Spangled with fifty white
Five pointed stars
All on a field of blue
It waves and snaps in a sky of blue
National pride flown on a fabric flag
States of the Union as plentiful as the stars
Symbol of patriots who've shed blood red
Under revolutionary storm clouds of gunpowder white
We were saved by their stripes
The soldiers earned their stripes
Washington told those boys in blue
Don't shoot until you see the white
Of their eyes, and they'll soon fly a white flag
To surrender and give up their fancy red
Coats to our generals wearing stars
In the Civil War, it was Stars
And Bars instead of stripes
And the American Red
Cross began as we fought in grey and blue
No longer under one flag
Of blue, red and white
I hang bunting of red, blue and white
Spangle cookies with cut out stars
Hope nobody steals our outdoor flag
Put out the picnic food and napkins with stripes
Celebrating the Fourth takes me out of a blue
Mood and keeps me (after watching news from Iraq) from seeing red.
7/1/2005 © Susan K. Barton
If you enjoyed this poem, you might like to read some more. To see a complete listing of the poems I have posted on Gather, follow this link.
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