To the American Flag

by Jonathan E. Hoag

Written 1918

Starry folds, whose matchless splendor
      Long hath blessed our grateful eyes;
Gleaming with a light more tender
      Than your rivals in the skies;
Wave as always, in a glory
      None may tarnish or excel;
Keep upon our lips the story
      That our fathers loved to tell!

May your grandeur be unceasing
      Proud reminder of the past;
As in noble rank increasing
      Each new ray outshines the last.
Yesterday for one young nation
      You in valor were unfurled;
But today your constellation
      Beams aloft for all the world!

This poem was attributed to Lovecraft in Collected Poems and Something About Cats.