Posted on May 19, 2012 at 12:37 am

The Flagmaker, 1775

JESSICA
With the guns flaring and the drums pounding,
There’s no hope of getting rest
With the lights glaring and the calls sounding
And the clenching in your chest;
When the man’s in battle, and the baby’s rattle
Only makes you more depressed,
The wise woman does what she knows –
If it’s fighting, she fights;
If it’s sewing, she sews.
When the tension inside overflows
And goes too far,

One more star, one more stripe
To escape your lonely bed
One more star, one more stripe
Join the blue, the white, and red
One more star, one more stripe
As you pray your child’s not dead.

With the roof leaking and the walls wetter
And the night as black as pitch,
With the wind shrieking, and his last letter
Says he’s fighting in a ditch,
Then the candle flickers, and the river bickers –
What else can you do but stitch

One more star, one more stripe
‘Til you feel the rising sun?
One more star, one more stripe
‘Til this foolishness is done.
One more star, one more stripe –
Who’ll be waiting when we’ve won?

Grab a needle, grab a thimble
If it’s all that keeps you sane.
Think of freedom as a symbol,
Think of justice as a gain,
Think of life with independence,
Think of muskets and brigades,
Think of taking the oppressors,
Think of banners and parades!
When the gate creaks
And the paint cracks
And the cat cries
And the night crawls

Raise a flag!
Raise a flag!
Raise a flag ‘Til you’re free!

One more star, one more stripe
‘Til this bloodshed’s finally through
One more star, one more stripe
‘Til they come back home to you
One more star, one more stripe,
When there’s nothing you can do.

If they take all the things that define what you were
And are –
One more
Star…