we run the red hound through hundreds of full sized flags set out on memorial day eve
red, white, and blue fabric whips and snaps over the graves
of the brave and the cowardly
and everyone else
in between
even
though
we
have
no
sense of
why they joined
the uniformed mass
for money, adventure or guilt
the security guard appears at dusk locking up
to keep living vandals and thieves from desecrating the stones and stealing the bright flags
