LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,109)
  • Text Authors (19,485)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by George Cooper (1840 - 1927)

For the dear old Flag I die
Language: English 
"For the dear old Flag I die," 
Said the wounded drummer boy; 
"Mother, press your lips to mine; 
O, they bring me peace and joy! 

'Tis the last time on the earth 
I shall ever see your face, 
Mother, take me to your heart, 
Let me die in your embrace. 

Chorus: 
For the dear old Flag I die, 
Mother, dry your weeping eye; 
For the honor of our land 
And the dear old Flag I die. 

Do not mourn, my mother dear, 
Every pang will soon be o'er; 
For I hear the angel band 
Calling from their starry shore; 

Now I see their banners wave 
In the light of perfect day, 
Though 'tis hard to part with you, 
Yet I would not wish to stay. 

Farewell mother, Death's cold hand 
Weights upon my spirit now, 
And I feel his blighting breath 
Fan my pallid cheek and brow. 

Closer! closer! to your heart, 
Let me feel that you are by, 
While my sight is growing dim, 
For the dear old Flag I die.

Text Authorship:

  • by George Cooper (1840 - 1927) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864), "For the dear old Flag I die", published 1863. [voice and piano] [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 29
Word count: 172

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris