The Star-Spangled Banner
by Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) |
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O 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, through the clouds of
the fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly
streaming!
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting
in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was
still there;
O! say, does that star-spangled banner yet
wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the
brave?
On that shore dimly seen through the mists 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, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In
full glory reflected now shines on the stream;
'T is the
star-spangled banner; O 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 a country should
leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul
footsteps' 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.
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between
their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with
victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the
power 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. |
By Francis Scott Key (1779-1843)
Listed January 7, 2013 |
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