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.
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