#23 Wrapped in a White Sheet

Latvia 

 

 (Historical evidence places the Latvian flag among the oldest flags in the world. Legend refers to a mortally wounded chief  who was wrapped in a white sheet. The part of the sheet on which he was lying remained white, but the two edges were stained in his blood. During the next battle the bloodstained sheet was used as a flag.)

Wrapped in a White Sheet

And hope without an object cannot live

For by the time a finished smile renews,

The heat, so won, is void of that to give,

To life, the simple, fading, falling dew.

That old badge sown on top of heavy heart

A thin film, succoured on the scent of loss

Forced to hold high, the pieces torn apart

As they say, he, our saviour, held the cross.

So fight and raise the object all the same

and don't fear death, for time can always out,

So that ever after can come again

dressed, as always, in fevered dashing doubt,

That is doubled within its meaning true

And cast aside, to raise the Flag anew.