UP WITH the banner of the free! Its stars and stripes unfurled! And let the battle beauty blaze Above a startled world. No more around its towering staff The folds shall twine again, Till falls beneath its righteous wrath The gonfalon of Spain. That flag with constellated stars Shines ever in the van! And like the rainbow in the storm, Presages peace to man. For still amid the cannon's roar It sanctifies the fight, And flames along the battle lines, The emblem of the Right. It seeks no conquest, knows no fear; Cares not for pomp or state; As pliant as the atmosphere, As resolute as Fate. Where'er it floats, on land or sea, No stain its honor mars, And Freedom smiles, her fate secure, Beneath its steadfast stars. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHAT DOES A WOMAN WANT? by KAREN SWENSON THE GIRL OF CADIZ by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE CONFLICT OF CONVICTIONS by HERMAN MELVILLE THE SPIRIT OF SHAKESPEARE: 1 by GEORGE MEREDITH THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL by PUBLIUS AELIUS HADRIANUS IAMBICUM TRIMETRUM, FR. LETTER TO HARVEY by EDMUND SPENSER WHAT THE BIRDS SAID by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER SONG AT THE FEAST OF BROUGHAM CASTLE; UPON RSTORATION OF LORD CLIFFORD by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |