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

filename[ STARSPAN

DC

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