Edgar Albert Guest - The Flag

We never knew how much the Flag
Could mean, until he went away,
We used to boast of it and brag,
As something of a by-gone day;
But now the Flag can start our tears
In moments of our greatest joy,
Old Glory in the sky appears
The symbol of our little boy.

We knew that sometimes people wept
To see the Flag go waving by,
But never guessed the griefs they kept—
We never understood just why.
But now our eyes grow quickly dim,
Our voices choke with sobs to-day;
The Flag is telling us of him,
Our little boy who's gone away.

We never knew the Flag could be
So much a part of human life,
We thought it beautiful to see
Before these bitter days of strife;
But now more beautiful it gleams,
And deeper in our hearts it dwells;
It is the emblem of our dreams,
For of our little boy it tells.

Edgar Albert Guest

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-flag-14/