Memorial Day Poem #17, This Little Flag of Ours

This Little Flag of Ours

I stood holding my fathers hand.
I remember looking up as I was told to be still
Everyone was standing and looking at the hill
There was a pole and a cloth blew in the wind
Old people were standing very still as I looked up at them
No one wore a hat.
That is odd, it is cold today.

I heard the music start to play and heard my father say, thats your
flag and we honor it this way.
People began to sing my mother sang very clearly.
I liked this song it kind of rang in my ear.
I only wondered why it would bring a tear.

I grew older and I was taught, why I stood to honor our flag
My Country is why, I was told
For brave men and women, I was told
Because I had to, I was told

As a Youngman I began to understand.
The flag of my country is honored this way.
That is what the history books say.
I learned there is more to this than that.
People died so I could be where Im at.
I had the freedom to learn this way.
For this many men have passed away.
So I could go to school.

I knew it all.
I graduated today.
We still stood and honored the flag the same old way.
I did as I was told.
I stood and I watched.
I said the words the way I was taught.
I had no feeling the way these old people do.
I dont understand the tears and Ive see quit a few.
At the football games I played and these games of all kinds,
we do it all the time.

I joined the Navy today and I stood and faced the flag again.
This time she seemed to look different to me.
She sparkled a bit today.
I made it through boot camp, classs and drills everyday.
I stood guard and saluted her each day.
She was growing in me.
We learned her history in another way.
Of Naval Battles and wars that were fought.
From Bunker Hill to Bullrun from San Juan Hill to Verdun then Pearl
Harbor and D-Day, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Tuesday.

Twenty years have passed and I have saluted many times.
She still waves through the passage of time.
Ive been with her only a fraction of her time.
She has guarded me and thousands more of my kind.
It was time to go
Others have come and serve her now.

She is forgotten in times of Peace almost as if she is passing time.
Its not true of course
She stands guard and watches our course.
Each day she goes up and comes down again.
She watches over US till we need her again.
She steps up each time she is called.
With Bravery, Honor, and Vigilantes
She answers the call.

She has been drenched in blood many a day.
She has stood many battles you see, stood to show us the way
She lighted our way in the darkest hours of War.
She has led us to Peace more than once before.

I have come to love This Little Flag Ours.
I now understand the tears.
The songs dont fall on deaf ears.
I cant hear taps without tears.
She frees me from old friends
I can set them free
No one said it was easy

This is what she means to me.

The Red is for the Blood that has been shed
The white is for the purity of sacrifices
The Blue is the field of dreams
The Stars stand for the dreams that well never be because they gave
their lives for you and me
That we might be free

This Little Flag of Ours.

Written for my daughter so she may understand what Old Glory means to
me. Why the Flag is important to US as a Nation.

Written from the heart by Douglas Kelley
Captain USAR Ret.

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