Joe Henry Flag
FLAG
Take that noise out in the street,
This rubble out from under my feet.
No rest for the weary in here,
And make a fuss, you're a volunteer.
These days, they lord above me
Growing mean as they grow shorter,
Like a flag on a closing border now?
Closing right behind you
In a crowd come off the hill,
Full of bloodlust and good will,
We carried pride above our heads
Like a flag we could cheer to wake the dead.
And when we could go no further,
And were drowning on a desert,
We raised our flag to follow the breath of God?
But it was blowing every which way
I loved you long before I knew
Love is something one decides to do.
My vanity and fear conspired belief
That love's just a mirror for a thief.
So when you held me tight against you
And I mistook your heart for thunder,
And like a flag, hid behind and under you?
Who could blame me?
When you held me tight against you
I mistook your heart for thunder,
Like a flag, I hid behind it
Like a flag, I'm hiding under you
Now I hang my clothes out to dry
Like waves of surrender, they fly.
The whore of this world looks old and played
Still she peeks from the alley like a waiting bride's
maid.
Laugh or bleed, as you need to
Who of us doesn't know already?
Every flag flies like confetti now?
