A poem by
Walt Whitman, from his
Leaves of Grass.
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Delicate cluster! flag of teeming life!
Covering all my lands - all my seashores lining!
Flag of death! (how I watch'd you through the smoke of
battle pressing!
How I heard you flap and rustle, cloth defiant!)
Flag cerulean - sunny flag, with the orbs of night dappled!
Ah my silvery beauty - ah my woolly white and crimson!
Ah to sing the song of you, my matron mighty!
My sacred one, my mother!