American Flag Dedication: The New Constellation

To be read as a blessing to the flag of the United States.

I am the Flag
and so are you.
Our stripes are not bars,
but are tributaries toward the ocean.
Our stars are not medals of honor,
but are hopeful dreams and aspirations toward a new and distant constellation.
We reach up toward those stars and miss,
but touch the moon in passing.

It is not our achievement which makes us great,
It is our lofty aspirations to fly higher than all others,
and our will to try
again and again.

Our greatness is forged in our failures,
for it is our unique ability
to neither deny them,
and cower in fear,
nor to accept them,
and cower in shame.

We are great
because we try and fail
and learn
and try again.
That is why nothing can defeat us,
For a flag that folds with each blow,
and returns with each breeze,
like flowing water, cannot be broken.

Our stars are not possessions.
They are declarations of our dreams.
Our flag stands for hope
and all of us are wrapped in the sky’s embrace.
Together, we are a constellation never seen before.
We are the constellation which rebels against its own faults, and realizes its own beauty.
When we embrace each other, each of us is a flag, around the shoulders of another.
When the wind carries us to the stars, we fly together.
We are the Flag.

This Dedication is under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 Liscence. This means you may use it for non-commercial purposes with attribution to Elsewhom and/or Alexander Swift.