Still the best tribute, and always worth reading

How to Join	Member's Area	Private Library	Search	Sanctuary		Login
Main Forums	Discussion	Tech Talk	Mature Content	Archives	A home without a wall, Our haven without ends, A circle we all call Our Family of Friends!

Open Poetry #22

Still the best tribute, and always worth reading

A. L. Becker
Member

since 2002-09-06

Posts 167
San Francisco, California

0 posted 2002-09-10 10:18 PM

[Almost one hundred and eighty eight years after it was written, this is still the best tribute to America, the endurance of freedom and the price of liberty.It is definitely worth reading again on this solemn occasion.Annika.]

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER
(The Defense of Fort McHenry)

September 20, 1814

By Francis Scott Key

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 rockets' red glare, the bombs 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, now conceals, now 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 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 wiped 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.

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 it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

the_loner_23
Member Ascendant

since 2002-06-08

Posts 5479
Jacksonville, Florida, USA

1 posted 2002-09-10 10:21 PM

God Bless America!!!!!!!!!!!

Cold hands means a warm heart

WhiteRose
Member Elite

since 2002-07-23

Posts 3208
somebody's dungeon

2 posted 2002-09-10 10:21 PM

Amen to that! A classic.

Pilgrimage
Member Elite

since 2001-12-04

Posts 3945
Texas, USA

3 posted 2002-09-10 10:23 PM

Absolutely!

Nan(Pilgrim variety)

	⇧ top of page ⇧
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.