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. Hats 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! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VERSES WHY BURNT by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR REMEMBERED MUSIC; A FRAGMENT by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 27. HEART'S COMPASS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE SONG OF THE MOUTH-ORGAN by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE THE BLUE BIRD by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA THE HEAVENS ARE OUR RIDDLE by HERBERT BATES TO THE DECEASED AUTHOR, UPON THE PROMISCUOUS PRINTING OF HIS POEMS by THOMAS BROWNE |