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 through 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 that shore, dimly seen through 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, 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, oh, long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. And where is that foe which 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 or 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 vict’ry and peace, may the heaven-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. —Francis Scott Key, 1814. [Illustration: COPYRIGHT 1898, BY ADDIE G. WEAVER.] INVOCATION TO THE FLAG. Dedicated to the D. A. R.’s. Our own dear flag, the stripes and stars, In peace like “bird of promise” flying. When War’s dread battles fiercely wage, All tyranny and wrong defying. Legions beneath its beckoning folds, Start at the sound of bugle calling. Eager to lift oppression’s yoke, From fainting brothers, bravely falling. Lead on, dear flag, our heroes true, O’er mountain pass and wild savanna. Till victories by their prowess won. Ring a new nation’s glad hozanna. Float o’er them where they bravely stand, The bursting shell and cannon daring, And glory wreathe their chaplets fair, Who fall, another’s burden sharing. Wave proudly on, where hastening ships Sweep the white wave, like tempest flying. Give freedom to the toiling slave, Give life to Cuba’s children dying.