Flag

What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.

What’s that unfurling from a pole?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that makes the guts of men grow bold.

What’s that rising over a tent?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that dares the coward to relent.

What’s that flying across a field?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that will outlive the blood you bleed.

How can I possess such a cloth?
Just ask for a flag, my friend.
Then blind your conscience to the end.

From Half-Caste and Other Poems (Hodder Children's, 2004), John Agard 2004, used by permission of the author and the publisher.

A unique and energetic force in contemporary British poetry, John Agard’s poems combine acute social observation, puckish wit and ...

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