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Oh,
say, can you see, 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 rocket's 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 fully 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 vanished 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!
Oh,
thus be it ever when freemen shall stand.
Between their loved
home 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 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.
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