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Paper Flags (Alma 46:11-13)

TitlePaper Flags (Alma 46:11-13)
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2019
AuthorsAnderson, Sharon Price
Book TitleThe Glory of the Son
Pagination72-73
PublisherTime Lines Etc.
CityOrem, UT
KeywordsCaptain Moroni; Poetry; Title of Liberty

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Paper Flags

Moroni . . .  took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty}.  (Alma 46:11-13)
 
Will I gird on armor for feeble 
flutterings of seasonal patriotism?
What defense will I raise 
for stiff rectangles that recede 
in the vanishing permanence 
of pleasant parades?
 
Correct colors of paper expediency 
blowing in the autumn breeze 
will not bring me to my knees.
Disposable banners, that barely cling
like brittle leaves to dying branches,
will not inspire my heart.
 
Tomorrow, I will not remember 
simulated standards that pale 
and dissolve in cold, wet gutters
or flash into ash and float away,
disappearing in the hot air
of pretended passion.
 
But take the very covering  
of wounded flesh and write on it 
the price of peace.
Nail this rent coat to a staff,
tall as the tent’s center pole. 
Plant it firmly in the earth to
secure the title, our right to liberty. 
 
This sufficient sacrifice 
I will not forget. 
Beneath this ensign that 
defines the desire to be free, 
I will worship, serve 
and even bleed.
So wave no paper flags for me.
 

 

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Scripture Reference

Alma 46:11-13