Flag of Hope-David Roth

[ti:Flag of Hope] [ar:David Roth] [al:Pearl Diver] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Flag of Hope - David Roth [00:10.77]The year was 1944 and I was 21 [00:19.07] [00:21.30]A million miles from California carrying a gun [00:30.34] [00:31.52]My country sent me overseas to battle the Big Red [00:42.31]I found myself in Burma with a helmet on my head [00:55.46]The countryside near Sittaung is serene and peaceful ground [01:04.03] [01:06.02]Where towering teak trees touch the sky and bamboo shoots abound [01:15.21] [01:16.54]But on this day in '44 the sky was filled with fumes [01:27.38]The landscape stained with mothers' sons in bare unearthly tombs [01:37.03] [01:46.57]The victory was ours that day I scanned the start terrain [01:54.79] [01:56.39]A flash of color caught my eye across this fruitless plain [02:05.61] [02:07.12]I knelt to find a piece of cloth beneath a fallen gun [02:16.25] [02:17.60]I took it as a souvenir as if I'd ever need one [02:26.01] [02:28.41]The Allied Force prevailed and the war was winding down [02:37.36] [02:38.61]And still I had the souvenir I'd picked up off the ground [02:48.72] [02:49.63]The cloth turned out to be flag a silken rising sun [02:58.55] [03:00.58]I took it home to California when my tour was done [03:08.81] [03:21.65]I showed the flag to friends and family proof of how I'd served [03:30.25] [03:32.10]I justified the Japanese had got what they deserved [03:41.10] [03:41.85]But every time I took it out I felt a pang of guilt [03:51.18] [03:52.33]I thought of someone's growing boy who'd grown up to be killed [04:01.26] [04:03.16]I found out that the flag was made by someone's loving hand [04:12.27] [04:13.50]To wish a strong and young soul well in Godforsaken lands [04:22.98] [04:24.18]I found a name and wondered if that's all that did survive [04:33.40] [04:35.30]And now Koju Muramatsu I've found out that you're alive [04:44.77] [04:47.07]I can't express the flood of thoughts that rivet through my head [04:55.96] [04:57.07]For forty years I thought the soldier of the flag was dead [05:06.64] [05:08.54]And now I've found out differently I can't tell you how I feel [05:17.10] [05:18.45]Today a souvenir of war became someone so real [05:27.94] [05:29.37]Though common threads that bind us all afford the greatest cost [05:37.79] [05:39.84]Regretfulness in retrospect won't make up for those lost [05:49.63] [05:50.45]I hope this finds you well and strong I pray you comprehend [05:59.81] [06:01.00]That somewhere in this twist of time there's a newly humbled man [06:10.15] [06:11.74]Your Rising Sun is shining bright in shimmering array [06:22.61]Your flag of hope and love and light [06:27.73]Returns to you this day