It is better to die for the flag, <br /> For its red and its white and its blue, <br /> Than to hang back and shirk and to lag <br /> And let the flag sink out of view. <br /> It is better to give up this life <br /> In the heat and the thick of the strife <br /> Than to live out your days 'neath a sky, <br /> Where Old Glory shall never more fly. <br /> <br /> The peace that we long for will be <br /> Far worse than the war that we dread <br /> If never again we're to see <br /> The blue, and the white and the red <br /> Wind-tossed and sun-kissed in the skies. <br /> If ever the Stars and Stripes dies <br /> Or loses its lustre and pride, <br /> We shall wish in our souls we had died. <br /> <br /> It is better by far that we die <br /> Than that flag shall pass out of the world; <br /> If ever it ceases to fly, <br /> If ever it's hauled down and furled, <br /> Dishonor shall stamp us with shame <br /> And freedom be naught but a name, <br /> And the few years of dearly-bought breath <br /> Will be filled with worse horrors than death.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-better-thing/
