The Flag is Passing By




The Flag Goes By
Hats off
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of color beneath the sky:
    Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
 
Blue and crimson and white it shines,
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
     Hats off!
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.
 
Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the State:
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;
 
Days of plenty and years of peace;
March of a strong land’s swift increase;
Equal justice, right and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe;
 
Sign of a nation, great and strong
To ward her people from foreign wrong:
Pride and glory and honor,--all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.
           
   Hat’s off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high:
    Hats off!
The Flag is passing by!
 
 -- Henry Holcomb Bennett
B. December 5, 1863 – D. April 30, 1924
American author, journalist and poet


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