Thick-sprinkled bunting! flag of stars!
Long yet your road, fateful flag—long yet your road, and lined with bloody death,
For the prize I see at issue at last is the world,
All its ships and shores I see interwoven with your threads greedy banner;
Dream’d again the flags of kings, highest borne to flaunt unrival’d?
O hasten flag of man—O with sure and steady step, passing highest flags of kings,
Walk supreme to the heavens mighty symbol—run up above them all,
Flag of stars! thick-sprinkled bunting!
Read all of Walt Whitman's poems · About Walt Whitman
More by Walt Whitman
Write poetry? Submit your poem to Poetry Catalog