_By_ JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE
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 its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure, celestial white
With streakings of the morning light,
Then, from his mansion in the sun,
She called her eagle bearer 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 't is 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 sign 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's eye shall brightly turn
To where thy sky-born glories burn,
And, as his springing steps advance,
Catch war and vengeance from the glance.
And when the cannon-mouthings loud
Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud,
And gory sabres rise and fall
Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall,
Then shall thy meteor glances glow,
And cowering foes shall shrink beneath
Each gallant arm that strikes below
That lovely messenger of death.
Flag of the seas! on ocean wave
Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave;
When death, careering on 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,
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before us
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,
And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?
This is a poem that may need a little explanation if every one is to
appreciate it.
How fancifully the poet tells of the origin of the flag in the first
stanza! The blue field and the stars are taken from the sky, and the
white from the milky way which stretches like a broad scarf or baldric
across the heavens. The red is from the first red streaks that in the
morning flash across the eastern skies to herald the rising sun. The
eagle, our national bird who supports the shield in our coat of arms,
had by the old legends the power to fly full in the face of the sun, and
to shield its eyes from the blaze was gifted with a third eyelid. In the
talons of this lordly bird Freedom placed our chosen banner.
The second stanza continues the tribute to the eagle. To this regal bird
it is given to fling high among the clouds and smoke of battle our
brilliant banner, whose bright colors like the rainbow signify victory
and peace--the flag of victory, the bow of promise.
The remainder of the lines are so clear in their meaning and so smooth
in their structure that they stir our blood with patriotic fire.