Happy
fourth of July! Not only does the US celebrate its 238th birthday,
but this summer is the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled
Banner. It was during the battle over the port of Baltimore that Francis Scott
Key wrote the poem that would become our national anthem over one hundred years
later on March 3rd, 1931. The 25-hour battle over Fort McHenry ended
with the American flag being raised in the early hours of September 14th,
1814.
Defence of Fort M'Henry –
Francis Scott Key
O 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, 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 washed out their foul footsteps' 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 loved 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 preserved 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!
As you
celebrate the fourth this year, please remember to follow the flag code and
proper etiquette on the display and handling of the flag. Happy fourth of
July!!!
Interestingly, a new biography of Francis (known as 'Frank' to his friends and family) has just been published, and I listened to the author speak at a bookstore just yesterday. Apparently Frank wrote poems for all sorts of family occasions and events, but many of them were quite bad. And no one really knows how this poem he wrote ever even made it to a publisher.... Also, it became the national anthem only in 1931!
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