New Hampshire Statesman And State Journal

POETRY.
From the Cincinnati Christian Journal.
THE BETHEL FLAG.
BY W. B. TAPPAN.
O bring the peaceful banner nigh,
Whose blazon tells of holy love;
And spread the standard to the sky,
Whose wavy folds reveal the dove.
'Tis done! and on the soft winds now
I see its streaming curls recline,
And deem it as a second bow
Of promise, and the blessing mine.
Flag of the pure and azure heaven!
How lovely is thy bearing here;
Free as the breezes round thee driven,
Is thy sweet errand on the ear.
Thou markest not the hurrying keel,
Whose foamy paths lead on to gold;
Thy nobler freighted barques conceal
Gems, Tyre and Tarshish never told.
Thou leadest not the armed host,
Thou art not in the battle's hum;
No trump sings of thee, round thee roll
No thunders of the stirring drum.
But unto thee are gathered men,
Whose only panoply is prayer;
And where thou wavest, lofty hymns
Discourse along the list'ning air.
Thou giv'st to patriot gaze no star,
Nor stripes, a glorious augury;
Yet token of victorious war
Thy beaming symbol seem to be.
For they type One, whose tempered shield
Shook off the hurtling darts of sin;
When he trode once, no doubtful field,
Imperishable crowns to win.
They tell unto the ocean tost,
That He who spans its floods can save;
And that for him, the well nigh lost,
The Ark yet lingers on the wave.
They herald joy to the opprest,
And ransom to the sons of thrall,
And shadow forth to labor rest,
In music of Salvation's call.
With voice of psalms, then to the skies
Unfurl the flag—a type of love;
The answering anthem's shout shall rise,
When they reveal the Holy Dove.