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 through the night
that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that 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 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, 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 a country should
leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd 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
free men shall stand,
Between their loved homes
and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace,
may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that has
made and preserved us as a nation.
Then conquer we must, when
our cause 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.
Written
by Francis Scott Key on September 14th,1814.
|
YOU
ARE HERE:
Coffee
Break
