I will never know now...only in dreams.

I will never know now...only in dreams.

I am getting too old for this.

Wave no flags

Half mast or flying high

Trampled in the dirt

As angry bullets fly

Painted in bright colours

By school children

For a jubilee

No flags for me

At the graveside

Rolled up solemnly

Once the guns have fired

Paraded on the field

Before the varsity

Saluted on one knee

In the land of the free

No flags for me

On a protest march

Unfurled and burned

As a statement

Of our liberty

Wrapped around a body

For publicity

The fashion

Of a faction of society

No fool is too cool

To deny

The need for sobriety

In a debate

There is no slander

In a love of country

But there can be hate

Even as you celebrate

Opprobrium

Is a harsh critic

Without a cause

To vilify

It falls on you to

Drape the flag and

Let it lie

No banner on the tail

As the planes fly by

No flags to wave

If I might die

No blood on a flag

For me

If you please.