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 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;
O! say, does that Star-spangled Banner still* 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
W
here 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?
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 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.
O! thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the foe`s desolation;
Bless`d with victory and peace, may our Heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation
And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O`er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
* current usage has changed still to yet thereby changing the
final stanza from a question to an exclamation.
