This Old Flag

by Lou Marin

I know my flag is ragged and worn,
but I folded her up nice and neat,
thinking of all the pain she’s borne,
in freezing winds and summer heat.
At Shiloh she stumbled in fields of corn,
at Gettysburg again nearly beat,
but we stood her back up so tall,
and again pledged to protect her all.

This Civil War wasn’t her first test,
a hundred years earlier she flew,
showed the Union Jack who was best,
when our country was brand new.
At Valley Forge, men ragged dressed
starved and froze for her colors true.
When spring warmth finally came
“We are ready!” they did proclaim.

In the dark years of 1960s and 1970s,
We fought in that land called Vietnam.
Our cherished banner went across the seas.
She stood amid bullets, bombs, napalm,
and agent orange that stripped the trees.
She shivered as the B-52’s continued to bomb.
Along came protesters one summer night.
I cried as our sacred flag burned bright.

She is singed around the edges and aged,
and truly deserves a rest so well earned.
But when you talk her down I get enraged,
and speak to her the words well learned;
“and for which she stands…” I am engaged.

____________________________

Lou Marin, a Christian grateful for Jesus’ gift to him, was born and raised in the western hills of Maine, then spent 20 plus years wandering the country and world in the United States Air Force. Maine Department of American Legion’s Historian, he is a photographer and stringer for The Maine Trust for Local News, published poet and short story writer who pens faith based devotionals. He lives in Rumford, Maine. He is author of an anthology of poems based upon his military career entitled “Dimly Seen Through The Mists,” and a book of faith based poems entitled “My Lighthouse In Troubled Times,” available through Pen It! Publications.

Lou can be reached at mbsphotog@yahoo.com or his Facebook Page.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.