Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet in the Battlefield to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
He carried the flag through the fire while the bravest men grew tired,
And the cloth in tatters told the tale of the hopes that had inspired.
For a standard is a promise, not a piece of painted thread,
It says to every soldier, come, for I will go ahead.
The arrows sang around him, and the smoke obscured the sun,
But the colours, high and blazing, kept the scattered ranks as one.
When at last the field was silent, and the banner still stood tall,
He knelt and kissed the crimson cloth, and thanked the one who held them all.
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Commentary
In an old battle, the flag was more than cloth. This eight-line epic follows the soldier who kept it high and shows why a symbol can hold an army together.
The bearer “carried the flag through the fire while the bravest men grew tired.” “The cloth in tatters told the tale” of the hopes it had inspired. The poem explains that “a standard is a promise, not a piece of painted thread,” one that says “come, for I will go ahead.”
“The arrows sang around him,” yet “the colours, high and blazing, kept the scattered ranks as one.” At the end, with “the banner still” standing “tall,” the bearer “knelt and kissed the crimson cloth.”