Have you ever felt a craving
On the vastness of the sea,
To behold the silken waving
Of the banner of the free?
Have you searched with tired precision,
Far from where the land unbars,
For a passing moment’s vision
Of the flag of stripes and stars?
Does it thrill you to remember
When it stood against the sky,
How your heart was like an ember
And a tear was in your eye?
How the old flag thrilled your spirit,
How it made you feel at home,
When your ship that day sailed near it
On the wideness of the foam?