Watch as the enemies stand around a bonfire in the twilight hours.
See how they laugh and cheer at the desolation of a nation.
See the flames roaring in their eyes as they lift the free world for all to see.
He is their leader.
He is their hope.
Watch as His wrath consumes Him.
He lifts the flag and boos shake the night sky.
Whispering in His dialect, He condemns the free and the brave to slavery
With the blood of soldiers and the purity of the innocent dipped in orange.
Slowly, the flames chase the stripes to the blue fortress.
There, the united fifty await their judgment.
The leader places the free world atop a stake for all to watch it burn.
Atop the mountain of flames lies the peak of corruption and greed,
The highest point of darkness where not even the flames can keep it lit.
No, it must burn.
It must be seen for all to witness the result of a nation defiling itself.
It thought it was too powerful to be mocked,
Too strong to be challenged.
Yet when He arrived with His armies, the nation fell.
It didn't even put up a fight.
Like an injured poodle, it yelped and begged for the suffering to end.
He did just that.
The corruption had been enough.
Once the model empire, now the desecrated feces of a rat.
The fields withered and died;
The cities tumbled in the wake of a higher power.
Halfway through the soldiers and civilians, the nation begged for it to end.
The flames charred their skin.
Like slabs of meat on a grill, the hungry patiently waited to consume them.
The Leader shook His head and heard the cries of the remnant,
A small morsel of white floated down from the burning flag.
He reached for it and held it in His hands.
The corners crisped by the flames.
The white stained with ounces of black.
He closed His eyes and shed a tear.
Even they would not escape, for they stayed when He told them to go.
But this piece He placed in His pocket as a reminder of the flame’s power.
The blue fortress crumbled in the fire.
Star by star, the united fifty are erased from memory.
Even the biggest star did not prevent nor slow the wrath unleashed on them.
None of their guns - not even the big ones - could stop the fire.
They were humiliated as a warning to the rest, but they did not heed Him.
Tempted to spare the rest of the flag from fire, He paused and watched.
The cheers of before became tears of pain.
Why did they not listen?
Why did they resist?
They had forgotten the immense power of His wrath.
They witnessed it time and time again but it was never the same.
This time His wrath came from knitting.
He wove one weak string in the flag.
He knew that, later, one would tug at it and unravel them.
He led them against themselves.
The yarn split the flag down the seams and led them to vulnerability.
In their arrogance, they tried to knit the flag together, but it was too late.
The string broke them and the flag fell from its high pole down to the dirt.
Watch as it glides down into the bonfire with the rest of the flags,
All but a mountain of ashes since the beginning of time.
I knew some, but all found their way here.
I watched as my Leader wiped His eyes and tried to cheer up.
"Holy holy holy!" The men shout.
"How marvelous is He!?" Others ask.
He looked at me with watery eyes and asked if I was okay.
Though I had known the Star-Spangled Banner, I could no longer sing it.
I pledged my life to them, but only if they remained "under God".
Instead, they turned their backs on Him, and thus turned their backs on me.
I warned that I am an ambassador and must return to report the news.
They mocked me in their streets as wickedness took hold.
I left them, broken and weeping, for I once knew their beauty.
They sold it for oil and glamour;
Traded it for power and a voice.
A voice so powerful in their eyes, but like the voice of a kitten to the Lion.
I told the Lion about their harlotry and He moved against them.
In their minds, they were a kingdom.
In His reality, they are a province.
I joined Heaven's armies and attacked them without mercy.
As I ended my brothers, I killed a part of myself.
He knew this and asked me to return home.
Now, with much concern, He watches me…
But I am fine.
Though the free were now in bondage, they all did not perish.
Though the brave fought the inevitable, all did not die.
I knew this because of the little piece in His pocket.
That little piece included me.
Me and millions of others who knew the beauty of our fair nation.
The millions who fought for her loyalty to the One who gave her life.
The plenty that fought for her when others sought to bring her low.
America lives on in me as I live on in God.
One nation, of many nations,
Under one God,
Indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all.