The Star-Spangled Banner
Oh! say, can you see, by the
dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at
the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright
stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched
were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night
that our flag was still there.
Oh! say, does the star-spangled
banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen thro'
the mist of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host
in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze,
o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals,
half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of
the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now
shines on the stream.
'Tis the star-spangled banner.
Oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so
vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the
battle's confusion
A home and country should leave
us no more?
Their blood has washed out their
foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling
and slave
From the terror of flight or
the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner
in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever when freemen
shall stand
Between their loved home and
the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace,
may the Heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made
and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our
cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God
is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner
in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave.