It came by the hand of my mother
she rinsed the red and the blue
from our nation’s flag
draining it of color
   leaving behind bleached
stars and bars
in a lightless fabric
 
   I stood desolate
beside her as she tossed
the desecrated flag
over the railing
into the heaving abyss—
   watched as it sank
drowning in the murk
star by star
 
   and I dove after it
into the swallowing dark
   yes, I hesitated
at the side of the one I love
but there was for me
no other future