Verse
O say can you see by the dawns early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilights last gleaming,
Whose stripes and bright stars thro' 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 thro' 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.
Verse
On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foes 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 mornings 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.
Verse
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battles 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 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.
Verse
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home, and the wars 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, 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.
