When You Call It Your Country Poem by Francis Duggan

When you call it your country you have got it all wrong
Since your country owns you and to it you belong
People come to and from life go but the country remain
And that your country owns you do i need to explain
You may wave the flag of your country for to honor the brave
Who went to war for it and are now in their grave
But why should anyone die for what they in reality do not own
You can only love your country by living for it since the dead cannot love a fact that is known
When you call it your country you believe your own lie
For mortals cannot own a country since mortals do die
And you do not love your country by waving your national flag
For flags are human creations and a patriotic brag
How can you own something that in reality owns you
I only do say what is obviously true.