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!