Classic Poem

Brave men have followed
My irresistible
Beauty and magic:
Comradeship, loyalty,
High hearts' devotion
Shone in their faces
Fixed on my stars.

Tattered and blood-stained
In halls of honor,
I dream of my lovers
Whom I misled.

Cleansed of the blood-stain,
In the new morning
I call afar.

Not in one land alone,
Not in one tongue alone,
Not through one only flag,
Comes the new Word.

Leave the old death-dealing,
Leave the old fearing,
Lead on to life-giving—
Life, more abundant life—
Now it is day.

Never again in wars
Float my stripes, flash my stars:
I am the flag of life,
Sister of every flag
In the wide world.

Brave men have followed
My irresistible
Beauty and magic:
Comradeship, loyalty,
High hearts' devotion
Shone in their faces
Fixed on my stars.

Tattered and blood-stained
In halls of honor,
I dream of my lovers
Whom I misled.

Cleansed of the blood-stain,
In the new morning
I call afar.

Not in one land alone,
Not in one tongue alone,
Not through one only flag,
Comes the new Word.

Leave the old death-dealing,
Leave the old fearing,
Lead on to life-giving—
Life, more abundant life—
Now it is day.

Never again in wars
Float my stripes, flash my stars:
I am the flag of life,
Sister of every flag
In the wide world.