| Oh,
say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd
at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
thro' the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd, 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. O 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: '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 wash'd 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 lov'd homes 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 preserv'd 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! |
