STAND UP AND SING

FOR AMERICA

***

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 thro' 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 thro' 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 freemen shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's 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, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto --"In God is our trust."
And the Star-Spangled Banner, in triumph does wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
          

Francis Scott Key