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 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. 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 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

half conceals

half discloses?

now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam

in full glory reflected now shines in 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. 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 of their foul footsteps' pollution. no refuge could save the hireling and slave

from the terror of flight and 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 home and the war's desolation!

bles't with victory and peace

may the heav'n 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."