Answer:
Take off my skin, I won't cry, but you will.
What gets closer when you blink?
Halo of water, tongue of wood. Skin of stone, long I've stood. My fingers short reach to the sky. Inside my heart men live and die.
Hard to catch, easy to hold. Can't be seen, unless it's cold.
I can be written, I can be spoken, I can be exposed, I can be broken.
They are many and one, they wave and they drum, Used to cover a state, they go with you everywhere.