O! 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 watch'd, 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, half conceals,
half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's
first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in
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, shall leave us
no more? Their blood has washed out their foul
footsteps pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and
slave, From the terror of fight 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 home, and the war's
desolation, blest with vict'ry and peace, may the
Heav'n rescued land, Praise the Power that hath made and
preserv'd 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.
