Complete
version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" showing spelling and
punctuation from Francis Scott Key's manuscript in the Maryland
Historical Society collection.
O
say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What
so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose
broad stripes and bright stars
Through
the perilous fight
O'er
the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And
the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air,
Gave
proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O 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 - 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 wash'd out their foul footstep's 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 freemen shall stand
Between
their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest
with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise
the power that hath made and preserv'd 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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