National flags snapping in the breeze of jingoism
don’t make me stand to attention
nor make me misty eyed.
Flags are often the symbol of repression of pride
that exclude people from lesser nations.
We used to fear the red flag with hammer and sickle
that was during the cold war
little did we know that the colossus was really a third world country
that could hardly feed itself
Lofty propaganda told us of Stars and Stripes
the symbol of democracy and freedom
until some of us began to wonder
way that country quelled democracy
and free election they didn’t like
and slowly we came to see that lovely flag
that could have been painted by a happy child
as something to be wary of.
Now that flag represent monoculture,
war, state terror and new colonialism
and the words of the American viceroy in Iraq
froze my heart in horror.
They (those who resist the unlawful occupation) will do as we will
or we will hunt them down and kill them.
When I see the beautiful flag with its bright stars,
cozy colours once my hope, pride and
the possibility to buy a Chevrolet, drive it on the freeway
and drink Milwaukee beer,
waving in the warm, hateful wind of defeated but not laying prone Iraq,
I fear for unprovoked wars to come.