By FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
[Written during the bombardment of Fort McHenry, below Baltimore, by the British fleet, 1814, the author being at the time forcibly detained on board one of the British ships.—Editor.]
OSay, 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,On 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 the star-spangled banner yet waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
OSay, 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,On 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 the star-spangled banner yet waveO'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 on the stream.'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle's confusionA 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 death and the gloom of the grave.And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!O thus be it ever when freemen shall standBetween their loved homes and the war's desolation;Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heaven-rescued land,Praise the power that has made and preserved us a nation.Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just.And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'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 on the stream.'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle's confusionA 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 death and the gloom of the grave.And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
O thus be it ever when freemen shall standBetween their loved homes and the war's desolation;Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heaven-rescued land,Praise the power that has made and preserved us a nation.Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just.And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.