The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag/To the American Flag

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Songs of War and Country

To the American Flag

Starry folds, whose matchless splendor
  Long hath blessed our grateful eyes;
Gleaming with a light more tender
  Than your rivals in the skies;
Wave as always, in a glory
  None may tarnish or excel;
Keep upon our lips the story
  That our fathers loved to tell!

May your grandeur be unceasing,
  Proud reminder of the past;
As in noble rank increasing,
  Each new ray outshines the last.
Yesterday for one young nation
  You in valor were unfurled;
But today your constellation
  Beams aloft for all the world!

1918