July 2002

           Flags are Tougher

                            

I put the flag out before the storm,

Figured it needed washing, not the

Sort of thing you throw in with the

Colors or the wash and wear.

 

I remember the Army officer handing

That flag to my mom at dad’s burial,

Thirty-nine years ago, too long to go

Without gentle care and hang drying.

 

Dad would not have approved,

Being such a Boy Scout about it all.

“You’ll have to bury it, now,” he’d say,

“or burn it”, or something, forget that.

 

Francis Scott Key seemed to think

Flags were allot tougher than my

Dad gave them credit for, after all,

It proved through the night, and it

 

Ever yet waved, no, this flag makes

Me really proud of what my parents

Did, what Americans always do,

Even though they usually appear

 

So blasé on the day before the day

Of infamy, such a reactive culture,

As if patriots don’t exist until you

Need them, flags in the background.

 

Once raised it seems silly to keep

Moving it up and down. In wartime

Everyone is involved, and we all

Sink to half mast a little and we 

 

Tough it out, weather ANY storm.