By Francis Scott Key, September 20, 1814: ] 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, through 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. ] 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 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: ] 'Tis 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 wiped 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 homes and the war's desolation! ] Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land ] Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. ] Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just, ] And this be our motto: "In God is our trust." ] And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave ] O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! The National Anthem (all verses) |