The flag...
...should never be in the dark...should not be used for any decoration in general
...should never be used for any advertising purpose
...should not be used as part of a costume, except
...as part of military, fireman, policeman uniforms
...should never have any mark, insignia, letter,
...word, number, etc. placed or attached onto it
...should never touch the ground when lowered
...and received into waiting hands and arms
...should be folded appropriately when stored
...when a flag is no longer fit to serve, it should be
...destroyed by burning in a dignified manner
The land was ours before we were the land’s
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours, in
Massachusetts, in Virginia.
But we were England’s, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak.
Until we found that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.
Robert Frost; 1874-1963