Who is Whittier?

(me or John Greenleaf)

I always get all twitchy
When I read of Barbara Frietchie.

I get a patriotic jag
Thinking of Barbara and the flag.

Blue it is and white and red
A backdrop for her gray old head.

Oh, sound the klaxon, sound the horn
For those meadows rich with corn

And sound again the horn and klaxon
For stern but kindly Stonewall Jackson.

And should the world's ways get you down
Think, only, friends of Frederick town.

Am I mocking John Greenleaf Whittier
And his lovely little ditty?
Well, just a little bitty—
OK, a little bittier.

© Edmund Conti