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 starts, through 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 through the mist 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!
Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.
Blessed with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the pow'r that hath 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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Our national anthem was written by Frances Scott Key during the
attack of the British on Fort McHenry, September 13, 1814. Key
had gone out from Baltimore to the British fleet to obtain the
release of a friend, held prisoner. Her arrived on the eve of
the bombardment of the city by the British, and was detained on
his own vessel lest the plans of the attack be disclosed. All
day an night he watched the battle anxiously from the deck. When
morning dawned and showed the Stars and Stripes still floating
over the fort, he was deeply moved and quickly wrote the words of
the poem. They were later set to the tune of an old English
drinking song, "Anacreon in Heaven," a song widely sung in this
country at that time.
@patriotic
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