Flag of the Free   By: Edward Smyth Jones (1881-)

[Illustration]

O Shine! Last Lingering Star of Hope of All Humanity!

To The Honorable JAMES ROLPH, JR., Mayor of San Francisco For His True Patriotism In Donating and Personally Presenting A Silken Flag To Company "A," Ninth California Colored Volunteers As a Token of Esteem and Loyalty of His Colored Fellow Citizens.

Copyright, 1917, by THE LINCOLN ART PUBLISHING CO. All Rights Reserved.

Flag of The Free

Flag of the free, our sable sires Have borne thee oft before Into hot battles' hell lit fires, Against the fiercest foe. When first he shook his shaggy mein, And made the welkin ring, Brave Attucks fell upon the Plain, Thy stripes first crimsoning!

Thy might and majesty we hurl, Against the bolts of Mars; And from thy ample folds unfurl Thy field of flaming stars! Fond hope to nations in distress, Thy starry gleam shall give; The stricken in the wilderness Shall look to thee and live.

What matter if where Boreas roars, Or where sweet zephyr smiles? What matter if where eagle soars, Or in the sunlit isles? Thy flowing crimson stripes shall wave Above the bluish brine; Emblazoned ensign of the brave, And Liberty enshrine!

Flag of the free, still float on high Through every age to come; Bright beacon of the azure sky, True light of Freedom's dome. 'Till nations all shall cease to grope In vain for liberty O shine, last lingering star of hope Of all humanity!

EDWARD SMYTH JONES.

Transcriber's note: The word 'mein' in the fifth line of the poem may represent an archaic spelling of the word mien. It has been left as printed in the original.