The City Flag
Flag of our hope, out of our heritage woven,
Flag for a storied city, forever new,
What shall you mean to the myriads you wave over?
What master-loves shall be lifted up to you?
Strangely will you greet the endless dream the city harbors,
Greet the astonished eyes the ships bring to the city shore,
Greet the adventurous hearts with surprise of familiar welcome,
Weird as a face remembered, yet never seen before.
Here where the rivers divide, where the eastern bridges
Carry their ant-like streams, where crag upon crag
The walls of Aladdin gleam with sunlit windows,
Here, looking up, they shall look on you, bright flag.
No banner of ancient traffic, realm of the Netherlands, rule of England,
Ghost of adventures long ago, nor names gone down with the past;
Flag of a nobler faring, flag of the port of vision,
They shall look up – and behold! their mirage come true at last!
Here in their hearts’ horizon they find heaven,
Dawns that lured them hither, here they find;
Here is the threshing-floor of the tireless spirit,
Here on new bread feeds the eternal mind-
Infinite purpose, infinite reach, infinite life and aspiration,
Desire of the star like beauty bound in the common knot of things,
Beauty changing the restless street with faery glamour,
And lifting the city towers light as a song with wings.
Flag of our fathers, out of our heritage woven,
Flag for a city of hope, forever young,
Fling to the winds of earth our ageless challenge,
Skyward in you man’s faith once more is flung-
Still may the ships come riding home, thronged with alien faces;
That yearn with light disguised, that grow with unsuspected powers;
Till our fortune eyes, grow old, look up and see you waving
Welcome to younger days and newer dreams than ours.
-John Erskine, 1915
Flag for a storied city, forever new,
What shall you mean to the myriads you wave over?
What master-loves shall be lifted up to you?
Strangely will you greet the endless dream the city harbors,
Greet the astonished eyes the ships bring to the city shore,
Greet the adventurous hearts with surprise of familiar welcome,
Weird as a face remembered, yet never seen before.
Here where the rivers divide, where the eastern bridges
Carry their ant-like streams, where crag upon crag
The walls of Aladdin gleam with sunlit windows,
Here, looking up, they shall look on you, bright flag.
No banner of ancient traffic, realm of the Netherlands, rule of England,
Ghost of adventures long ago, nor names gone down with the past;
Flag of a nobler faring, flag of the port of vision,
They shall look up – and behold! their mirage come true at last!
Here in their hearts’ horizon they find heaven,
Dawns that lured them hither, here they find;
Here is the threshing-floor of the tireless spirit,
Here on new bread feeds the eternal mind-
Infinite purpose, infinite reach, infinite life and aspiration,
Desire of the star like beauty bound in the common knot of things,
Beauty changing the restless street with faery glamour,
And lifting the city towers light as a song with wings.
Flag of our fathers, out of our heritage woven,
Flag for a city of hope, forever young,
Fling to the winds of earth our ageless challenge,
Skyward in you man’s faith once more is flung-
Still may the ships come riding home, thronged with alien faces;
That yearn with light disguised, that grow with unsuspected powers;
Till our fortune eyes, grow old, look up and see you waving
Welcome to younger days and newer dreams than ours.
-John Erskine, 1915
